Category: Craftivism

Craftivism is a form of activism addressing anti-capitalism, environmentalism, feminism or any other social issue or cause. Centered on practices of handicrafts, craftivism includes various forms of needlework among many other as ceramics, screen-printing, paperwork, wood, glass, illustration, etc.
In this section you will find information about initiatives and changemakers using crafts to promote, collective empowerment, action, expression and causes.
All posts have been also shared at Craftivism Lab, a Lab supported by the European Cultural Foundation: http://ecflabs.org/lab/craftivism

Call for Papers – Textile & Place

Exploring memory, social and political issues through textiles

From 23 to 24 April 2020, the Conference Textile and Place will take place in Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University with the aim of exploring politics through textiles. The debates will be built on the findings of the first conference also organised at MMU.

Mapping memories and places, the stories of trade and history transmission, migrations and cultural exchanges are some of the topics that will be raised during this exchange. The connections between communities, movements and alternative narratives through textile issues to be examined.

“We use the word politics as a broad term to indicate how textiles is implicated in particular places and is part of the relationships between groups or organisations and used to confront issues of power.  Textiles can fix us to a place and also be part of the process of making change.”

Invited keynote speakers are Dr. Fionna Barber, Jessica Hemmings, Assadour Markarov, and Vic McEwan.

If you wish to submit your paper, take into account some of the topics suggested:
  • Textiles as a medium of protest and activism.
  • Textile sites which represent migration and globalisation.
  • Narratives of community and social interaction encountered through textiles.
  • Responsibility, textiles and the places we live.

Submit your abstract and short bio by Friday, 8th november 2019.

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITY
The papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture.WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE?
We welcome papers from, textile artists, artists exploring textiles among other materials, designers, academics, early career researchers, art, fashion and textile historians, curators and archivists, ECRs, PhD candidates.We also welcome short films and audio-visual work that explore textiles and place for our ‘Film as textile site’ space.

Craft + Activismo

From Spain, Laura Cadenas, IT Fashion makes a review of craftivism concept and some of the most relevant initiatives launched by Betsy Greer (Founder of Craftivism concept) and the Craftivist Collective.

Last but not least, launchs a reflection on how craftivism can promote a more sustainable fashion through mini-statements and much more.

“Tu hacer es tu voz. Úsala bien”, dicen los craftivistas. ¿Te atreves a usarla?

Provocative Fiber Art Made by Women

THE ANCIENT GREEKS put fate in the hands of three old women, goddesses who spun the thread of life, twisted it to allot each individual a measure of joy or sorrow, and wielded the “abhorred shears” (in the poet John Milton’s phrase) that could cut life short. The Greeks knew something that artists, along with a new generation of “craftivists” (people combining craft with activism), are rediscovering — that fiber (woven, knitted, braided, quilted, crocheted, embroidered) can be an expressive medium, one more powerful, perhaps, for its ubiquity. Textiles, after all, accompany us on nearly every step of life: We are born and swaddled, buried in shrouds;

An article written by LESLIE CAMHI published on MARCH 14, 2018 at the https://www.nytimes.com/ and shared at Craftivism Lab.

This article makes a review of relevant artists using textiles to speak out. From Albers to the Pussy Hat initiative, you will find several references to wonderful experiences and stories handmade by women.

Some of the Most Provocative Political Art is Made With Fibers

The Greeks knew something that artists, along with a new generation of “craftivists” (people combining craft with activism), are rediscovering — that fiber (woven, knitted, braided, quilted, crocheted, embroidered) can be an expressive medium, one more powerful, perhaps, for its ubiquity. Textiles, after all, accompany us on nearly every step of life: We are born and swaddled, buried in shrouds; most of us are even conceived between sheets.

….

Sophia Narrett, a recent Rhode Island School of Design graduate whose solo exhibition of embroideries opens at Brooklyn’s BRIC Arts/Media center in May, wrote in an email, “When an object is developed by human hands for hundreds of hours, it leaves a quality in the surface that can be sensed.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/t-magazine/art/fiber-knitting-weaving-politics.html