Tabitha Arnold makes labor-intensive art.

Her maximalist, narrative tapestries speak to the radical past and ongoing struggle that threads all working people together. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia, then transitioned into a self-learned practice of punch needle embroidery. She’s inspired by the history of the international labor movement, as well as her own experiences as a worker, organizer and artist coming of age during a wave of unionization and class-consciousness.

Arnold’s textiles have been featured in Hyperallergic, Jacobin Magazine, and on issue covers of Dissent Magazine. She is a MacDowell Fellow and part of the American Craft Council’s 2022 Emerging Artist Cohort. She now lives and works in Chattanooga.