Lydia Donohue

Lydia Donohue

Ms

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9959-5846

Personal profile

Overview

I am a doctoral researcher in visual anthropology focusing on the community of quiltmaking and patchwork in northwest England. My project investigates the storytelling and memory-making that emanate from the shared material practices of stitching, showing, touching, curating and conserving quilts. Positioned as a long-term apprentice within these craft worlds, this interdisciplinary project unpicks the network between crafters, their tools of making and their objects of creation to examine the everyday lived and retold through the material. In engaging with the quilt within my ethnographic fieldwork, I foreground sensorial handling, arts methods, and embodied practice to explore the skilled community and reflect the experience of research.

Research interests

My research centres on materiality, collective making, crafts practice and creativity. I also draw in themes of ‘smart-textiles’, future-orientated design and the interdisciplinary space of science + art.

Teaching

SOAN10061 Visual Anthropology 

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Education/Academic qualification

Master of Arts, Visual Anthropology, The University of Manchester

Award Date: 20 Nov 2018

Keywords

  • Craft
  • Textiles
  • Visual Anthropology
  • Visual art
  • Materiality
  • Community Arts
  • gender and feminist theory
  • Design
  • Creative Methods

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  • 1 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

  • Textiles

    Donohue, L., 22 Dec 2025, The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Callan, H. (ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p. 1-9 9 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

  • 1 Organising a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc

  • Stitching at the End of the World

    Donohue, L. (Chair)

    12 Sept 2025

    Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Organising a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Teaching and Research