Dr Sarah-Joy Ford is a Todmorden based artist and independent scholar working with quilting to explore the complexities and pleasures of lesbian, feminist and queer communities, histories and archives. Solo exhibitions include dykeland at The Whitaker 2025, Rabbit at Bury Art Museum 2024, HARE at Bobinska Brownlee Gallery 2023 (London), Looking for Lesbians at ONE Gallery 2022 (Los Angeles), Beloved at Plas Newydd Historic House and Gardens 2022 (Llangollen). Her artwork is represented by Cassinelli Mills.

 

She was the recipient of an NWDTCP award for her PhD research examining quilting as an affective methodology for re-visioning British lesbian archive, at Manchester School of Art. She is a Paul Mellon Curatorial Researcher at Bishopsgate Institute and Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Leeds, jointly held with Rachael Field (Sept 2025-2028). She sits on the National Executive Committee for Artist Union England.