Dr. Sarah-Joy Ford, an artist and independent scholar based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, has opened her exhibition "Dykeland: Volume 1" at The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rossendale on June 7, 2025. The show explores the history of dyke and lesbian landscapes in the UK, focusing on queer relationality to placemaking and preservation. It interweaves historical material, personal memory, and fantasy in response to Jane Cambell's upcoming poetry collection "Dykeland and other secret islands," and is displayed alongside Cambell's art. Ford uses quiltmaking as a medium to share lesbian and queer archival material, continuing a tradition of queer fabric art that includes recent installations like the ACLU's 258-square-quilt display on the National Mall and the Euphoria Quilt by Eliot Anderberg.
This exhibition matters because it highlights an often-unwritten history of women's lands and dyke communities in the UK, challenging the secrecy and shame surrounding these spaces. Ford's work reclaims the word "dyke" as a term of cultural and political strength, reflecting legacies of misogyny within the LGBTQ+ community and the resilience of lesbians in movements like the Women's Rights Movement. By using quiltmaking as an affective methodology, Ford connects intergenerational and intertemporal queer archives, offering a hopeful fantasy that preserves and celebrates dyke placemaking. The show contributes to broader conversations about queer visibility, archival practices, and the role of craft in activism.