As part of The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co., contemporary artist and researcher Louise Atkinson created Heterotopia, a new commission inspired by the lives and work of May Morris and Mary Seton Watts. Drawing together themes of pattern, social change and artistic collaboration, the work presents an imagined collaboration between two influential women of the Arts and Crafts movement.

While William Morris remains one of the best-known figures of the movement, Heterotopia shifts attention towards his daughter, May Morris, and George Frederic Watts’s wife, Mary Seton Watts. Both women made significant contributions to art, design and education, creating opportunities for others while pursuing ambitious creative careers of their own. Their shared commitment to artistic practice and social improvement became the starting point for Louise’s research.

The commission takes inspiration from the title of May Morris’s wallpaper design Arcadia, that Exhibitions Curator Corinna Henderson had specially conserved for the exhibition. By the late nineteenth century, the concept of Arcadia had become a powerful symbol of an ideal society living in harmony with nature. Exploring this idea led Louise to consider wider questions about utopia and the ways people seek to create better worlds through art and design. These themes also found connections with the work of Mary Seton Watts.

Central to Heterotopia is the Tree of Life, a motif that appears repeatedly throughout Mary’s work. During her research into world religions and decorative traditions, Mary encountered many versions of the symbol and incorporated them into her designs for both Limnerslease and Watts Cemetery Chapel. Louise reinterpreted these influences through a contemporary repeat pattern that combined trees, birds, and Celtic knotwork inspired by Mary’s decorative schemes.

Although Heterotopia initially resembles a traditional wallpaper design, closer inspection reveals disruptions within the pattern. Fragments of Lorem Ipsum text emerge from the composition, referencing the placeholder text derived from ancient philosophy exploring what would make a good society. These words also echo the use of text in the Watts chapel and Arts and Crafts design, following Mary’s publication, The Word in the Pattern. Towards the bottom of the design, it starts to unravel, visually reflecting working patterns produced by May Morris, and transforming the work into a contemporary reflection on the impossibility of achieving a fixed ideal.

Heterotopia is on display as part of The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. at Watts Gallery until 10th January 2027. The work is also available for sale as part of A New Paradise at Watts Contemporary Gallery until 15 November 2026. The Contemporary Gallery is open every day the gallery is open, and prints can be taken away immediately on purchase.

About the artist

Louise Atkinson is an artist and researcher based in Leeds. Her work combines historical research, repeat pattern design, and digital processes. She is particularly interested in

heritage and how ideas from the past influence the present. She was awarded the 2024 Merryl Huxtable Bursary from the Wallpaper History Society for her work responding to the Chinese export wallpaper at Harewood House. She is currently producing a wallpaper design about the history of breathing for Florence Nightingale Museum in London, which will be exhibited in 2027.