Two University of Staffordshire fashion students have been selected to showcase their work alongside established artists in a new exhibition
Responding to the brief was very thought provoking. It was a really fun experience exploring the theme of uncanny and expressing it with visual storytelling. The experience has definitely informed my preferred design processes and language.
BA (Hons) Fashion students Greg Say and Helina Addae feature in The Unhomely, which runs until 13 December 2026 at The Brampton Museum in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Curated by Culture& and co-produced with the North Staffordshire Community Oral History Group, The Unhomely explores how histories of migration, displacement, belonging and identity shape our understandings of home. It is delivered in partnership with The Brampton Museum, University of Staffordshire and Museum of the Home in London.
Rooted in psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny – also translated as the Unhomely – the project explores the lived experience of home and asks: what does it mean when the familiar becomes strange?
As part of The Unhomely, first year Fashion students at University of Staffordshire were given a live brief through their Fashion Hot Topics module, inviting them to explore what happens when the familiar becomes strange.
Through research, material investigation and creative practice the students produced experimental fabrics and garments, with Greg and Helina’s works selected to be displayed in the Threads of The Uncanny section of the exhibition.
Greg’s work combines stories of migration with imagery of decay, using second-hand and donated materials including tents and fabrics. He manipulated the materials to create physical and visual representations of decay and developed a print inspired by an image of lifejackets worn by people crossing the Channel.
The 22-year-old from Cambridge, said: “Responding to the brief was very thought provoking. It was a really fun experience exploring the theme of uncanny and expressing it with visual storytelling. The experience has definitely informed my preferred design processes and language.”
His garment was developed without a predetermined design, reflecting his interpretation of migration journeys, while stitching inspired by the Japanese Sashiko mending technique links to the module’s focus on sustainability and repairing rather than replacing materials.
Greg added: “It feels amazing, I’m so honoured to have been selected and very proud that I successfully paid homage to these humans who are consistently facing hate. Where their personal stories and identities are diminished.”
The wider exhibition features artists Güler Ates and Ayesha Sureya, including large-scale textiles based on oral histories from North Staffordshire communities, alongside sound and visual works.
BA (Hons) Fashion Course Leader Holly Nancarrow-Hassall said: “I am incredibly proud of our Fashion students and the creativity, curiosity and commitment they have brought to Threads of The Uncanny. It has been both a pleasure and a genuinely thought-provoking experience to work with Culture& on The Unhomely brief, giving our students the opportunity to engage with such relevant and complex ideas.
“What has been particularly exciting is seeing the students embrace the process of making – testing, questioning, altering, fragmenting and rebuilding materials as they develop their own individual interpretations of the brief. Seeing the ambition and individuality of their responses has been immensely rewarding, and I could not be prouder of what they have achieved.”
The Unhomely is open at The Brampton Museum, Brampton Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme, until 13 December 2026, with free entry.
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