Knit one, stitch two, protest three! Examining the historical and contemporary politics of crafting

Abstract

Crafts are often understood as conservative and solitary pursuits of the elderly but crafts have long been used for mutual aid and political expression. This project examines two cases where crafts are used as instruments of political resistance. Started in 1987, the AIDS quilt was to remember those lost to the pandemic but its purpose was not limited to honouring the dead but was also a powerful tool for prevention, awareness and to highlight governmental inaction; The second case examines contemporary “craftivists,” activists that use crafts in subversive, political ways. This project is informed by de Certeau's work on the tactical nature of everyday life, where people subvert the structure of “culture” in order to make it their own. These two cases explore where craft (as art) and crafty (cunning) intersect and become a meaningful tool for political action.