Trevor Small works through his brain injury with the ultimate art therapy: embroidery

In 2001, Trevor Small experienced a brain injury and spent a few weeks in a coma. He stayed in Homerton Hospital in London for two and a half years, doctors told his family that he wasn’t going to make it. Bit by bit, Trevor learned how to walk again, how to wash and dress, how to make a small meal. As he lost all use of his left hand side, he learned how to tie his shoe-laces with one hand. Now here’s the thing, if that wasn’t enough, Trevor is also an excellent textiles artist. He was a mechanic before his injury, but through an introduction to Headway East London, he was involved in dancing, cooking and especially the arts room, learning stitching and embroidery, where he chain-stitches horses, animals and flowers in wonderful multicoloured threads.

“I can’t use my left arm so when I’m stitching I have to use something to keep the frame steady. I started using a brick in a bag when I was stitching at home and now in the studio I use a heavy book as a weight,” says Trevor. “I have staff and volunteers helping me to string the needles and tying them off. I was inspired by the studio staff to start off with my stitching. If it wasn’t for them I would never have done it.”

When Trevor first came to the studio, he looked through books and decided to give a crack at whatever he saw – the first thing he saw was a horse. It linked up perfectly with the toy horses he used to play with as a kid, or his beloved cowboy shows. And so, a bunch of his art revolves around horses and their jockeys, imaginatively stitched and coloured, galloping equestrians of patchwork. “People keep asking for my horses so I keep doing them!” says Trevor. Horses are said to be some of the hardest things to draw, never mind embroider.

His horses have exhibited at Autograph Gallery, Barbican Curve Gallery and The Bomb Factory, Shoreditch – and a great pride of Trevor’s was being a part of the Royal Academy’s inaugural Making Space programme running from 2023-2025. The therapeutic nature of art is integral for Trevor, as a survivor of a serious brain injury – every day, every stitch, he’s focused, all the whilst his memory improves through the creative process. Embroidery is especially an attention-heavy practice: “I have to remember where I’ve put the needle and the direction I’m going in. It keeps my brain flowing,” says Trevor. “It’s my pleasure to teach anyone else in the studio who wants to learn. I will never stop, I’ll keep going on and on.”