Loke is a Cambridge based textile artist. His work explores queer and trans identity and spirituality. Currently, he is exploring the relationship between the surgical and the sewn. He is currently studying for a BA in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University.

Text reads The Cass Art Prize 2025 Shortlisted, on an abstract green and pink background.
Loke, dressed in a suit, operating on a quilt of a human chest.

Textile Works

An oval shaped piece that looks like bruised flesh.

Bruised Skin, 2026

Over the course of my life, I've found I'm someone who tends to bruise easily. This is especially true when I have had to have blood tests to check my HRT levels. This bruise was needle felted to test how this material could be used to replicate human flesh. It also serves, perhaps, as a reminder to drink more water before my next blood test...

An angled image looking up at a needle felted snail with a shell full of pearls, which has red entrails of fabric hanging from it. Dark red resin snails are crawling down the wall away from the needle felted snail.

Brood Parasite, 2025

Using the snail as a metaphor for trans bodies, Brood Parasite explores pregnancy and birth as a form of body horror. The snail's shell bulges from the pressure of the parasitic eggs growing inside it, and its already hatched babies force their way out through its shell, leaving behind their host for dead. Despite this horror, the host snail's body continues to respond as though prepared to mate again, the parasite having taken full control of the host's reproductive system.

A quilt that looks like a human chest with a blue medical sheet is sat on a table. There is a small metal dish with fabric breast tissue sat on the edge of the quilt. Above this is another metal dish, this one filled with an assortment of medical tools.

Patient Quill T, 2025

Made as part of the series Doctor Catafalque performs surgery, Patient Quill T is a human body quilt - made to replicate that of a human chest on an operating table. The piece was operated on to give the patient top surgery, themed as that of a Victoriana live surgery to explore trans history and the growing requirement for trans people to take care of their own transition. You can view the operation on the performance & film page.

A purple wall hanging, featuring silver prints of a magpie and a fox. In the centre is a gloss black disc surrounded by fabric ivy leaves. The bottom features a woven border with tassels, bells and hags stones. This is hung from a pipe above it, and is set

The Fox & The Magpie, 2024

The Fox and The Magpie is a wall hanging inspired by folk magic. The piece features a black scrying mirror surrounded by ivy at its heart as the namesakes of the piece watch on from the corners in the form of lino prints. Hagstones and bells are hung along a card woven border, allowing the piece to make ambient sound as it moves. A short video paired with this piece can be found on the performance & film page.

A square quilt that uses the colours white, pink and blue. It is hard to make out all the details of the quilt in this image, but a snail, mushroom, the trans symbol, top surgery scars and the phrase trans joy is magic are visible.

Shapeshift With Me, 2023

Shapeshift With Me was the artist's first major textile work. This quilt features a wide range of panels featuring blackout poetry made on medical leaflets, a list of influential transgender people, examples of queerness in nature, and a piece of the artist's last chest binder. The title of the work is taken from the album of the same name by the band Against Me.

Performance & Film

Dr. Catafalque Performs Surgery (Original Recording), 2025

The original and unedited performance of Dr. Catafalque Performs Surgery.
This was the artist's first piece to be performed in front of a live audience.

Destruction of Lover Mine, 2024

A work of catharsis in which the artist burns a previous work with a past relationship as its subject.

The Fox and The Magpie, 2024

Made to pair with The Fox and The Magpie wall hanging, this piece treats batik as if it is a form of worship.

Other Works

The top of the image reads the magpie faerie and the middle features his poem. Around the border is a range of treasures such as a key, buttons, coins, and ring pulls. A magpie sits in the bottom right corner.

The Magpie Faerie, 2025

Page made for The Faeries Drag Show Zine. To see images from the show, go to @faeriesshow on Instagram."Hear the call of the Magpie Fae,
Fond of what you might mislay,
Trinkets and treasures fill up his nest,
With shiny things, he is obsessed.
Six for silver and seven for gold,
A poem that is often told,
So look out for the bird dressed in black, white and blue,
You never know,
he might just share with you."

The title at the top reads the long distance poem. A message written in purple has had sections blanked out in the same purple so that the message instead reads I'd really like to find again that I've lost my friend (I'm so anxious I've lost this

The Long Distance Poem, 2025

An experimental piece using quest text-based game software to create an interactive blackout poem, exploring long distance friendship during difficult times. Play here.

Exhibitions

• Hues of Perspective, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK, 2025• The Cass Art Prize, Copeland Gallery, London, UK, 2025• Through Our Eyes, Cambridge Artworks, Cambridge, UK, 2025• Techne Foundation Art & Design, The Museum of Technology, Cambridge, UK, 2024