Alke Schmidt's work combines beautiful form with thought-provoking subject matter. Painting is often intertwined with the decorative patterns of found fabrics, stitch or print, selected for their historical, cultural or symbolic associations. Fusing the roles of the artist as maker and critical citizen, Alke uses the visually seductive qualities of her works to challenge contemporary social and environmental injustices. Her work also puts those issues in historical context, reflecting Alke's belief that we must engage with the past to understand - and improve - the world today.
In several recent projects, Alke has focused on engaging with historical museum collections and heritage sites, highlighting their contemporary relevance. 2021 she had a major solo exhibition entitled Justice, Freedom & Bread at Rydals Museum, located in Sweden's most important historic textile mill. The exhibition built on her previous work exploring the politics of global textile supply chains past and present, and how the textile industry affects and connects people across continents. This included solo exhibitions at the William Morris Gallery (2014/15), the Cromford Mills World Heritage Site (2015), the People’s History Museum, Manchester (2017), as well as the Arts Council England-supported project Wonder and Dread, consisting of a residency and solo exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum (2018) and a new site-specific commission for Salts Mill, Saltaire (currently on display at Salts Mill's People and Process Gallery).