Laura Wilson’s ‘Heads! Look to the Workers’ Unveiled at V&A East

Artist Laura Wilson has unveiled a sculptural commission titled ‘Heads! Look to the Workers’ at V&A East Museum in April 2025, alongside a new display at V&A East Storehouse. The work emerged from her 2024 Bow Arts x V&A East Fellowship, during which she researched women’s labour in East London, focusing on how clothing shaped movement in industries from soap making to munitions manufacturing. Wilson developed natural dyes from local materials—coffee grounds from nearby cafés and avocados from Stratford Westfield—colour-matched to historic workwear found in Newham Council Archives. Collaborating with womenswear designer Georgia Gough, she created a set of overalls. The commission features three suspended discs referencing industrial fabrics, pulley systems, and cyclical movement, with colours (high-visibility yellow, orange, and a peach tone from avocado dye) tied to labour and safety. Wilson worked with fabric supplier JD McDougall in Stratford, which supplies materials to theatres. The title borrows the theatre term “Heads” as a call to attention, redirecting focus to overlooked workers. The installation incorporates text and poetry, and a performance using Thames water concluded the fellowship. Wilson’s research included the Maurice Broomfield archive and a work bell from Tate & Lyle factory in Docklands.