Unpicking the ICP: Solidarity Quilt Making Workshop

In recent years, following the Gymnast Alliance Movement of 2020, many people connected to British Gymnastics found the courage to speak about harm they had experienced in the sport. The result was the Whyte Review, followed by a period of reform that promised change. But for many, the lodging of formal complaints has come at a great personal cost, with many left unacknowledged and unresolved.
The ICP Solidarity Quilt therefore exists to ensure that reform does not erase the harm that was lived, and because forgetting creates the conditions for harm to happen again.
This community meetup event is for the whistleblowers and allies who have been impacted by the Independent Complaints Process (ICP) set up by British Gymnastics in the wake of The Whyte Review. It is also for members of the wider gymnastics' community and experienced quilters, who would like to show solidarity with those impacted by the ICP, by lending their support to the making of the quilt.

The quilt offers a way to mark this period together: the courage it took to come forward, the harm that was carried, and the resilience required to keep going. Creating it is a quiet but powerful act of collective memory. Each panel becomes a record of lived experience, not filtered through institutional outcomes, but held with honesty by the community itself.

If you were affected, if you stood alongside those who were, or if you believe survivors should shape how this history is remembered, we invite you to join us. Come be part of the quilt and help ensure this moment is carried forward with truth, care, and solidarity.

Led by participatory artist and visual artist , we will spend the day starting the process of making the quilt together. No experience is necessary and all materials are provided. The project will run throughout 2026, with mulitiple oppertunities to meet online and in person - to discuss the creative process as the quilt progresses.

There is an accessible entrance and food and drink will be provided.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT?

This quilt is about taking back agency to ensure that the history of harm in British gymnastics is told by the people who lived it. The ICP Solidarity Quilt gives everyone impacted by harmful coaching practices at British Gymnastics a way to shape how this period of reform is remembered.
It is a public, collective record of harm, of waiting, and of resilience, created in a context where formal processes have been opaque and unresponsive. Reform does not erase what happened, and forgetting risks repeating it.

If institutions alone write the history of gymnastics, this era may be remembered as “a difficult but necessary period of reform.” When survivors create the quilt, it becomes a different story: one of a time when many people came forward, carried harm together, and persisted while justice was delayed or denied.
WHY ARE WE MAKING A QULIT?

Historically, quilts have been a powerful tool in justice movements, particularly when legal, political, or institutional systems fail to listen, record, or acknowledge harm. The most well-known example is the AIDS Memorial Quilt of the 1980s. Each panel told the story of a life lost, transforming anonymous statistics into visible, personal testimony and forcing public recognition at a time when governments and institutions were failing to act.

Quilts have also been used by survivors of domestic and sexual violence, within abolitionist and Black feminist movements, and by Indigenous and post-conflict communities. In each case, quilts function as counter-archives: records created by people whose voices have been excluded from official histories.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE QUILT?
Historically, movements create objects like this when they are thinking long-term about how periods of harm, resistance, and survival will be remembered.

The ICP Solidarity Quilt is an artefact of counter-history. It asserts that the existence of a formal ICP process did not result in justice for those who raised concerns in the UK or globally in 2020. This matters deeply in the context of British Gymnastics, and other National Governing Bodies around the world where individuals’ experiences have too often been marginalised within formal complaints systems.

The quilt represents a refusal to rely solely on the ICP for recognition or validation. It is an invitation to contribute to a shared record that centres lived experience rather than institutional outcomes. Each panel records not whether a case was upheld or closed, but the reality of having spoken up. Together, the panels mark presence, survival, and resilience, while also acknowledging the absence of resolution. By doing so, it makes visible the limitations and failures of the ICP itself.

At its heart, the quilt is about community, memory, and long-term change. It centres survivors not institutions to build a shared sense of identity.
As a physical object, it will be free to travel - appearing in exhibitions, meetings, and public actions - carrying survivor voices into new spaces and making ICP failures publicly visible and remembered.

Ultimately, the ICP Solidarity Quilt ensures that this moment in gymnastics history is remembered not only as a period of reform, but as a time of collective courage and persistence.
WHO CAN GET INVOLVED?

UK: Anyone who has experienced abuse in gymnastics and who feels let down by BG’s Reform 25 process and the way complaints continue to be handled by BG post Whyte Review as well as via the ICP including gymnasts, parents, guardians, allies, lawyers, therapists, teachers, doctors and physiotherapists,

Take part in Solidarity: Experienced quilters, stitchers, and art students interested in protest art wanting to lend their support to the project.
You do not need sewing experience to take part you can stitch, sit, talk, listen, or simply be present. Every form of participation matters.
WHAT WILL I MAKE?
Each person involved in the project will create their own stitched piece to contribute to the quilt. Participants will be involved in the design process but will only be responsible for sewing their own piece. Jane, the project lead will then stitch the quilt together to create the final piece.
The project will be phased and will run throughout 2026, with international contributors who have expeienced harm from similarly processes around the world welcomed to contribute later in the year.
A Participant Pack with a project brief will be made available during phase 2, to allow a greater number of people to contribute to the project following the quilts launch event and first workshop.
JOIN THE LAUNCH EVENT ONLINE: FRI 30 JAN 6.30-7.45PM
Join us for a powerful evening of conversation and reflection on the social and political history of quilting as we launch our own ICP Solidarity Quilt to give voice to a group of survivors who refuse to be silenced.

Featuring award-winning textile artists Jane Thakoordin and Jahnavi Inniss moderated by Matilda Pye in an intergenerational conversation about their practices within the radical political history of quilting.

Introduced by international human rights lawyer Kat Craig, founder of Athlead, who will outline the failings of the Independent Complaints Process (ICP) set up by British Gymnastics in the wake of The Whyte Review.

This event marks the beginning of our ICP Solidarity Quilt Making Project, to be led by Jane Thakoordin and created by whistleblowers and allies, in response to the ICP.

Learn more about and how to join the project, UNPICKING THE ICP, at our online launch event on Fri 30thJanuary 2026. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unpicking-the-icp-solidarity-quilt-launch-tickets-1980192110909?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

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Host or Publisher Gymnasts for Change International