Hayley Price
Instagram: @the.tired_feminist
Email: hayleymia2204@gmail.com
Hayley’s work consists of combining the grotesque and dark with daft iconography to have the work come across as light-hearted initially, but have it shapeshifted into a dark reality that women face. Using a combination of digital mockery and the delicate elegance of textiles in an unlawful way creates a healthy balance to get the message of protest across.
The struggles that many women and fem-presenting individuals face in modern society provide the inspiration for Hayley Price's artwork. Following the news and the information being spread about women's rights and bodily autonomy, Price became tired of hearing that her own and other people's rights to their own bodies were in jeopardy. The work was motivated by Price's frustration with the everyday misogyny that is dismissed as "boys will be boys," the growing prevalence of violence against women that is not taken seriously, and the ever-creeping fate of a dystopian novel, that has been outlawed in several places and is now a reality.
Price draws inspiration from the punk movement in music and art, the surge in banner-based textile artwork, and the general "handmade" aspect of delicately conveying a significant statement. From hand sewing at her nan's dining table to being gifted a sewing machine from her mother, to machine sewing a quilt at her university workspace, Hayley Price's experiences with textiles played a significant role in her upbringing. Each piece in this collection is meticulously crafted to ensure that it will endure time, with the hope that the tales it tells will no longer be relatable in years to come.
*Warning! Explicit language and upsetting themes are used in this installation.*
‘To be a Woman’
Banning books has become a growing epidemic in the United States since the Republican Party took power, with Trump expressing concerns about the 'transgender epidemic' and the rise of 'wokeness', with children becoming aware of white supremacy and racial bias, which is a bad thing to be aware of, unless the government is attempting to conceal something.
Banning books is a regular practice and sometimes necessary, such as banning fascist literature that supports their agenda. In the states, the most prohibited books are:
The Hate You Give, banned because it speaks up about racial injustice and hate crime, the main character gaining a voice to speak up about the problems many black Americans face.
The Handmaid's Tale, banned in most schools for being anti-Christianity, featuring LGBTIQ protagonists, and banned for being due to dystopian themes about 'societal wreckage'.
Heather has two Mummy's, banned for showing same sex marriages and having them adopt a child, banned now more than ever because in US schools, teachers and students cannot talk about their families if they are of an LGBTQ family or marriage,
Animal Farm, banned for being pro-communist and worries about it inciting a revolution.
There are currently approximately 2000 books banned in the United States, the majority of which are prohibited for opposing the agenda that Trump is attempting to impose on the states.
They either feature LGBTIQ characters simply existing, going against the typical nuclear family, characters speaking out against the government and Christianity, and a variety of other stupid causes. Censoring books is terrifying; it's like history repeating itself; it won't be long before they begin burning them like another governmental party. The zine library was formed in response to this idea, making reading more accessible and convenient.
‘Born with pain and bones to fight’
2025
Film
This film explores the perpetual struggle of womanhooc hrough a visual narrative devoid of dialogue, relying instead or the powerful audio of chanting that emphasizes the mantra "my body, my choice." The absence of spoken words allows the imagery to take center stage, highlighting the relentless cycle of conflict and resilience inherent in the female experience. The film contains the collages of Hayleys past work, flashing on screen to give a commentary and insight into the experience's women face, the film is supposed to reflect her collage work with the pink border and the flashing up of text.
‘Privilege to Bleed’
When did bleeding once a month become a privilege only few can actually fully afford? Sanitary products are expensive especially when one is a heavy bleeder and needs the expensive branded ones that actually stop one from bleeding through to their clothes. People get happy and celebrate when companies give out pads and tampons for free in their bathrooms when it should be free no matter what. An average person with a normal light' period with no complications will spend around £19,000 in their lifetime on sanitary products, not even including painkillers or heating products. The privilege isn't just how much it costs, it's also the treatment, doctors dismiss nearly everything hormonal to periods, anything abnormal about one's period is just passed as 'normal', schools don't allow time off for serious period pains and when starting a job, it's just an 'inconvenience' for somebody to have normal bodily functions. Having a uterus isn't a privilege, it's a burden.
‘To be a Woman’
Series of digital collage posters
2023-2025
‘False Security’
Quilted piece with cyanotype and digitally printed cotton
2025
Hayley is inspired by the Artist Kern Samual who is a textile artist who creates pieces with the cut offs of his larger textile creations. He used the tiling composition for the scraps to create an expansive and never-ending piece of work, something to constantly add to and never see the end until the artist says so. This idea was a huge inspiration and push to creating a quilting piece. Initially, seeing these pieces, Hayley was inspired to lean into this 'never-ending' idea, relating it to the never-ending cycle of women's rights being erased. Unlike Samuels and making it neat and contained, she wanted to leave the piece rough and unfinished, representing that fighting as a woman isn't easy and unfinished.
‘A Woman’s Place’
It is widely assumed that women belong in the kitchen.
Someone saw this painting and joked, 'Shouldn't it say in the kitchen? It was a funny joke that is overused and uninteresting A woman's place is in the revolution, or at least in the fight that needs to be waged. Bodily autonomy is under attack, as is period poverty, medical misogyny, unequal pay, gender bias, gender-based violence, drugging, trafficking, online and in-person harassment, and the possibility of being drugged among many other issues that half of the world'a population faces simply because they are not male. A woman has numerous reasons and rights to fight and participate in the revolution.
‘Man created Religion’
Asherah was a goddess who was previously worshipped in the ancient Near East Prior to the introduction of modern religion, Asherah was one of the most well-known fertility figures. As the wife of Yahweh (the Hebrew God), she was revered and regarded as God's equal. She represented fertility, the sun, and the storm. The belief that man is the most powerful gender and that a woman can never be an equal to an all-knowing being emerged with the advent of monotheistic religion and the Bible's "condemning the worship of other Gods". The Bible describes how, for centuries, Judaism turned against her and labelled her evil in an effort to destroy the goddess devotion and the segment of society that adhered to her. They demolished any writings about her as well as any statues they could see. They even went so far as to include a detailed account of Yahweh's murder of his wife in the Bible. They eventually eliminated her with the introduction of Christianity.
Hayley was inspired by this heartbreaking tale to write this straightforward but thought-provoking work, which does not specifically mention ancient religions because many, if not all, of them honored and even revered women. The claim that
"man created religion because he was jealous that women can create life" was inspired by the way that all of these "religions" praised women for their ability to create and bring life into the world but were erased by the rise of monotheistic Abrahamic religions.
‘Man created Religion’
Asherah was a goddess who was previously worshipped in the ancient Near East Prior to the introduction of modern religion, Asherah was one of the most well-known fertility figures. As the wife of Yahweh (the Hebrew God), she was revered and regarded as God's equal. She represented fertility, the sun, and the storm. The belief that man is the most powerful gender and that a woman can never be an equal to an all-knowing being emerged with the advent of monotheistic religion and the Bible's "condemning the worship of other Gods". The Bible describes how, for centuries, Judaism turned against her and labelled her evil in an effort to destroy the goddess devotion and the segment of society that adhered to her. They demolished any writings about her as well as any statues they could see. They even went so far as to include a detailed account of Yahweh's murder of his wife in the Bible. They eventually eliminated her with the introduction of Christianity.
Hayley was inspired by this heartbreaking tale to write this straightforward but thought-provoking work, which does not specifically mention ancient religions because many, if not all, of them honored and even revered women. The claim that
"man created religion because he was jealous that women can create life" was inspired by the way that all of these "religions" praised women for their ability to create and bring life into the world but were erased by the rise of monotheistic Abrahamic religions.
‘Reading shouldn’t be banned Zine library’
Bookcase containing handmade risograph printed zines
2025
‘Just a hobby’
Woven rug made from ripped up painted canvas, loose wool fibre, and ribbon
2025
This rug was created with an old painting from last year, ripped into strips, along with pink loose wool fibre and ribbon. All these materials were obtained by free giveaway events and materials that were already laying around. Creating something with old creations and materials is an anarchistic movement by not overconsuming but also links Hayley to the history of making with women, women made everything textile with their hands and was seen as a job and accomplishment, when in recent years it has been reduced to a hobby. Centuries of skills being taught down generations and history being reduced to a hobby in modern years has erased the importance of creating, especially for women.