Abstract
This intervention reflects on the opportunities for textile art, and its exhibition and making, to inform our study of conflict, violence, and resistance in International Relations. In a dialogue drawing on the Threads, War and Conflict exhibition at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, this piece grounds our understanding of violence and its resistance through engagement with materials displayed at and promoting the exhibition. Our discussion of the exhibition and its associated events draws on metaphors of thread-work to explore the contributions of textile to international relations and the possibilities that textiles’ material, affective and transgressive politics hold.
Highlights
This intervention reflects on the opportunities for textile art, and its exhibition and making, to inform our study of conflict, violence, and resistance in International Relations
Featuring a selection of textiles from the Conflict Textiles collection,2 including arpilleras3 and protest banners, the exhibition was curated around key topics addressed in the School of International Relations including resistance, the ethics of warfare, and migration and displacement
The process of curating the exhibition and its associated events unfolded organically, drawing together students, academics, Scottish cultural institutions and interested members of the public. Did this process create space for conversations around the diverse topics of war and conflict addressed with(in) the textiles, but it provided rich opportunities for collaborative teaching, research and engagement. These opportunities resulted in several collaborative outcomes from the exhibition, including an international academic-practitioner workshop at the Byre Theatre, and a collective textile made by students and lecturers from Scottish Higher Education Institutions across a series of workshops, which will join the Conflict Textiles collection
Summary
This intervention reflects on the opportunities for textile art, and its exhibition and making, to inform our study of conflict, violence, and resistance in International Relations. We all participated in creating the collective textile but through the making of our own individual pieces, through our interpretation of the workshops’ prompt, as well as our own understandings and meanings of resistance, violence and political conflict.
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