Week 39 - Craftivism

Home Sweet Home by Tess Carlton

On Saturday last week I attended the ACT Embroidery Guild’s Annual Show.  I am mainly a crocheter but I admire and respect works by other artists and love to go to shows like this for inspiration and wonder.  I admire the skill and time it takes to finish any handmade object. I have been to many such shows and in among the doilies, lace knickers (part of the Heritage Collection and called “My mum trusts me”) there are a few unusual gems.  On Saturday it came in the form of ‘Home Sweet Home’ a collective effort led by Tess Carlton.

In her book How to be a Craftivist: The Gentle Art of Protest, Sarah P Corbett describes a particular protest she developed with her local MP that has gone on to be a nation wide action to bring attention to particular issues, for those people who do not feel comfortable about attending marches, carrying banners or other more attention getting forms of protest. 

(Corbett is quick to point out that these forms of protest are just as valid and can be very useful. Email petitions and postcard campaigns bring attention to issues and, in the UK, 10,000 pieces of correspondence are received about one issue questions and investigation have to be done in the House of Commons by MPs.)

Women of Metal designed by LE Young. Made by Elaine Gardner 1985

Corbett was new to an area, the MP was new to her role and they had only met, once, briefly, but Corbett had sent the MP’s office multitudes of emails and online petitions over a few months.  This action resulted in a staff member sending a reply email stating she should stop and desist. Corbett was hurt and upset by the email but took this anger to come up with a plan.  Reflecting on her email action she recognised that the staff members of the MP and the MP herself, may well have thought her an ‘armchair activist’ as it is easy to send emails and postcards without much thought.  They had also been about many different issues, but all themed with inequality.  Corbett knew her MP was not going to agree on all every issue, in fact, not many at all, but wanted to find a way to connect with her so the MP understood that Corbett, one of her constituents, did feel strongly and deeply about these things.  Corbett came up with the idea of the ‘Don’t Blow It’ hanky.  

In her best handwriting she wrote, ‘Don’t Blow It’ and then backstitched over the top.  The work took her a total of five hours.  Once finished she emailed the MP’s office to ask for an appointment.  She was scheduled a spot at the surgery at the local library.  Once the pair had introduced themselves the hanky was given, as a gift, to the MP.  

Women in Trade Unions designed by Kay Lawrence. Made by Elaine Gardner 1987

Corbett describes the five hours it took to embellish the hanky as time well spent as it gave her time to empathise with her MP on what a hard job she had, make a plan about how to interact with her at their first meeting, and courage to ask for the meeting in the first place rather than just sending emails.  The meeting gave Corbett the opportunity to listen to the MP and find out why she voted the way she did on certain issues and what things she felt particularly strongly about.  Corbett describes how she believes the gift of a ‘badly stitch’ hanky touched the MP far more deeply than any petition or postcard could have and the hanky, still pinned to a pin board in the MP’s office remains a vehicle for connection and communication.  Corbett is known in their office as 'The Hanky Lady'. The political action taken also made her, in her own words, a better lobbyist.

Arpilleras purchased from Chile Solidarity in 1987

Craftivism comes in many forms.  Arpilleras (small hand stitched pieces) made by women in Chile when living under a dictatorship (1973-1990), banners made by Unionists in the UK and Australia, and in the US, quilting bees often served as safe and subversive space for women to discuss sufferage, financial independence and raise money for their causes. Crafting itself is sometimes seen as a political act as it rallies against the mass production of stuff.. At a recent rally in Sydney on the Harbour Bridge the march was led by a crochet banner stating ‘Stop the Cruelty’ and ‘Genocide in Gaza’.  Not only did it take many people many hours to make, but the banner had to be held by many hands. Betsy Greer, the woman who coined the phrase, in her book Craftivism: the Art and Craft of Activism (2003), recognised that it can be an ‘amorphous blob’ that can evolve and change but has to be both ‘handmade and make the world a better place’.

The war in Gaza has touched many of us.  Tess Carlton, member of the ACT Embroidery Guild, and exhibitor at the show, wanted to bear witness to and voice her dissent of the war.  Using Tetreez, a traditional form of Palestian embroidery Home Sweet Home uses predominantly environmental motifs.  The work is unfinished to represent the ongoing dispossension of the Palenstian people and their land.  Home Sweet Home is an ironic image that references often kitsch but genuine work women, in the Western traditional, would make to hang on their walls.  The home in the image has a plane with bombs and rubble beneath.  The slow and diliberate action of making this piece reflects the ongoing resilience the Palestinian people show to hang on their land, culture and way of life. 

Led by Carlton, Gaza Stitched Together, brought friends, family and guild members  together to work on ten separate panels.  Carlton and her fellow stitches sat around her table as they learnt the techniques of Tetreez.  She fed them in her home.  This informed the finished article, a table cloth, to represent the functionality of craftwork, done worldwide by women. Tetreez is done by Palenstinine women to embellish clothes.

In the words of Sarah Corbett, in order to change things we have to be ‘loving, critical friends’ not ‘aggressive enemies’.  Home Sweet Home, the trade unions banners and the Arpilleras do more than just convey a message, they give something to the crafter, time to reflect, and they express the makers' anger, grief, and immortalise something about the current time. The banners and arpilleras are still around long after the reason they were created has faded. Craftivism can do this, with hankies, banners, pictures or anything else that can be given as a thoughtful gift.

Sarah Corbett Tedx talk (with over 1 million views) can be watched here