‘He’s behind you’ was exhibited in the joint show, ‘Fifties, Fashion and Emerging Feminism: a contemporary response’ held at Collyer Bristow Gallery, London (2011) and curated by Lucy Day and Eliza Gluckman. Robins’ work referred to the oppression experienced by many women in the 1950s, a period of social change associated with the idealism of the Festival of Britain. ‘He’s behind you’ presented a small, fragile, slightly distorted knitted ‘skin’ hanging in a cramped, dark, wooden wardrobe. Robins presented her knitted work as a critical response to the celebratory historical displays of 1950s fabrics in the exhibition.
Robins’ use of knitting to explore these themes undermines perceptions that knitting is inevitably related to contented domesticity, comfort and security. By explicitly situating her body of work in terms of a feminist agenda, she asserts an overtly political dimension in her work. Robins identifies works such as ‘He’s behind you’ as the latest developments in a theme stretching back to Su Richardson’s overtly feminist 1980s works using crochet and mixed media.
Robins’ presented the project at the conference ‘Counterculture Crochet’, Goldsmith’s, University of London in July 2012. In her paper, ‘Cosy’, Robins acknowledged Richardson’s importance in identifying knitting’s ability to subvert and challenge ideals of domesticity.