Setterington’s research draws on popular culture, folk and textile history, situated at the intersection of craft and community, social engagement, design and activism. She creates tactile social history documents with groups and communities to interrogate social injustices and celebrate the overlooked and every day. These sensory cloths provide soft, alternative flexible forms of commemoration, in contrast to the fixed, hard memorials, ubiquitous in many parks, city centres and stadiums.
She has undertaken many large-scale commissions and partnerships with underserved communities and museums in the UK, India, Bangladesh, Brazil and US. Her solo and shared quilts and embroideries are in private and public collections including the Whitworth and the V&A.