Sarah Hancock
2025 Undergraduate Winner
York University
Traveling Dyers Grimoire
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A grimoire is a personalized spell book by witches. Women's knowledge of plants/ecology was labelled as witchcraft, making “pseudo-science” a symbol of resistance and female-based knowledge. Natural dyeing expands on this knowledge, as it requires understanding plants' chemical properties, pH/ mordant modifications and how dye chemicals interact on protein or cellulose fibre. A contemporary dyer’s grimoire is an act of resistance by compiling
alternative colour knowledge at the intersection of science and the domestic sphere through textile art, using witchcraft as a model for counter-narratives to a field that has historically been gate kept and shaped by the patriarchy.
Sarah's inspiration for this practical colour research comes from the intersection of land, femininity, science, and art to discover hidden or forgotten colours, subsequently resisting fast fashion and patriarchal narratives that underline modern science. All the material used to produce her dyes has been personally foraged, as she believes that engaging the land is an indispensable part of her colour research.
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This is the first edition of her dyers grimoire - in May 2025 she will spend a month in Iceland developing a second edition.
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Sarah graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA (Hons) from York University in 2024 with the privilege of representing York at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. She spent her undergraduate years defining her practice at the intersection of land, femininity, science, and art to discover patriarchal and colonial trends that affect the environment. Material communication and the act of looking are fundamental to her practice through foraging as natural motifs and intersectionality reveal themselves. Foraging and ecology are indispensable to her research and translate to diverse materials, such as animal remains, insects, fungi, and other flora. She then hybridizes her work by incorporating the
domestic sphere through textiles and natural dyeing.
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Links: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.hancock.art
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