Alice Kettle’s contemporary take on Homer’s epic poem TheOdyssey provides a stitched response to the story of the journeymade by Odysseus, King of Ithaca, home from the Trojan War.The narrative has a particular pertinence to Alice Kettle’s work asOdysseus’s faithful wife Penelope famously employs weaving as ameans of protecting herself from re-marrying and thus proving herfidelity to Odysseus. The people of Ithaca urge Penelope to remarry,with crowds of suitors invading her house, and in response Penelopepromises that she will decide between the suitors once she wasfinished weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus’s father. WhilePenelope sits all day weaving the shroud, she spends the nightsunweaving it, outwitting her suitors and escaping a fate that hasbeen decided for her. In 2014, this stitched wall-hanging was shownin the 18th century stairwell of Pallant House, recalling the tradition ofhuge figurative tapestries in historic houses. Yet Alice uses stitch ina contemporary manner as a gesture to create painterly effects withrich surface textures.Simon MartinDirectorPallant House Gallery