Between Looms and Legacy

Between Looms and Legacy: Women, Jute, and Intergenerational Knowledge

An exhibition by Fiona Roberts

This exhibition explores the forgotten stories of women who worked in Dundee’s jute mills during the 1900s. Though they made up 75% of the workforce and earned the city its nickname “She Town,” their names have been largely erased from official records.

Through weaving, drawing, and collage, artist-researcher Fiona Roberts works directly with jute—the material these women handled every day. The rough fibres and persistent dust become witnesses to history, offering a tangible connection to lives that archives have overlooked. Each piece also reveals connections between Dundee and Kolkata, where working-class women in both cities performed dangerous, poorly paid labour within colonial trade networks.

Rather than inventing stories to fill the gaps, this work acknowledges that absence itself can be powerful. We have production records and profit statements, but almost nothing about the daily experiences of the women who made it all possible. What’s missing reveals how class and gender shaped which stories got preserved.