Article 6

Emma Dolan

website@moadoph.gov.au — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 02:56:53 +0000

Emma Dolan website@moadop… Fri, 10/12/2018 - 13:56

Emma Dolan is a textile artist based in England, originally trained in surface-pattern design and print. Having stepped away from the contemporary craft world over the last year, Emma is presently focusing on collaborative textile projects addressing women’s rights in the United Kingdom, such as protecting sex-segregated provisions, safeguarding children in schools, and the protection of women from the sex industry. She is one of a group of women, the Leeds Spinners, who hold regular embroidery and craftivist meetings in her hometown of Leeds in Yorkshire. The area has a long tradition in the textile industry with women at the heart of the mills and political life, at the beginning of the UK trade union movement. The Leeds Spinners are part of this tradition of creative, proactive women.

Emma Dolan

English

England, United Kingdom

English

The block I made uses digitally printed cotton and hand-embroidery, using imagery of visual identity recognition technology.

Craftivism is a valuable tool in publicising issues overlooked or deliberately ignored by mainstream media. This project was brought to my attention at a time when, having been recently re-politicised by world and national events, I wanted to move into work with a more overt social message.

I looked back to ‘the personal is political’ mantra from my early art college days; what I now know is called ‘second wave’ feminism. Since beginning this project, I have been motivated to become more actively involved in feminist actions and we now have a feminist, female-only embroidery and political discussion group meeting monthly in my hometown of Leeds in the UK. I see myself as a lapsed feminist, recently awoken to a crisis in women’s rights that we have collectively sleepwalked into over the last two decades.

UDHR Article

Article 6

Quilt

Red quilt

Dijanne Cevaal

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 04:07:55 +0000

Dijanne Cevaal website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 15:07

My work is informed by travels and reading and study over the years. My Master’s degree explored issues of immigration in the earliest traces of my family I could find, and how that impacted on a sense of place as exemplified by lace. It has also made me aware of the marginalisation of people and what it is to experience prejudice (though in a minor degree).

My heritage is Dutch, but to say it is just Dutch is not strictly true as I have been able to trace parts of the family back to the religious wars when Huguenots were forced to flee France in fear of their lives. They settled on a small isolated island in the southern part of what is now the Netherlands and lived quietly there, hidden away until the Watersnoodramp flood in 1953, when my father and mother moved to northern Holland and subsequently to Australia, where we began a whole new life.

Dijanne Cevaal

English

Australia

Dutch

This project is very close to my heart. I feel so much that human rights have been impinged on by greed and corporate interests, as well as self-interest; that the rights of refugees, women and children, homeless people have been pushed to the edge and they are dehumanised so we no longer care they do not have the same rights as others.

I kept the embroidery very simple and worked in black (well, almost black) and white, because to me there is nothing clearer than Article 6. It involves the rights of all humans who have been marginalised through poverty, violence or sometimes simply bad luck. It involves being part of things that somehow create greater empathy and greater love for our fellow humans. If my stitching can add my voice to a more empathic world that embraces the dignity of every single human, then every single stitch in my piece is a mark of hope.

UDHR Article

Article 6

Quilt

Green quilt

Niveditha U S

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:24:09 +0000

Niveditha U S website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:24

Niveditha U S is a program manager with Teach For India, part of the Teach For All network. India is a very diverse country of many languages and cultures, and Niveditha hails from a mixed-language/cultures background. She is deeply committed to solving the struggle for educational equity so that all children can have an excellent education. She truly believes in the potential of the children to be a better generation and change the world to a more equal and humane one, slowly but steadily.

She is very new to embroidery and is very much an amateur. In her exploration of art for social justice and development, she has worked with Social Justice Sewing Academy, and hopes to take the learning and practices back to her classroom and her students.

Niveditha U S

English

India

Indian

I grew up in south India. In my country, children take their father’s name as their last name. However, my parents named me Niveditha U S: U representing my father’s name and S, my mother’s. I was often made fun of and asked if I am from the US, but it was all worth it as I believe, from the minute I was born, my parents instilled Equality and Reason in me and that all beings are equal as a matter of fact.

The story I wish to tell through my highly under-skilled embroidery stems from my experiences of discrimination. In my country, apart from the existing social divides, there is a system of caste. The ancient Hindu Varna system that segregated people based on their profession still exists, and equality is a far-off dream. The equal sign is an abstract concept that we all learn in elementary school, but are unable to apply in life.

UDHR Article

Article 6

Quilt

Blue quilt

Tatyana Plummer

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:46:14 +0000

Tatyana Plummer website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:46

Tatyana Plummer is a 21-year-old, non-binary, first-generation immigrant. Their mother came to the United States after the Soviet Union dissolved to create a better future for them and their family. They are currently pursuing Bachelor’s degrees in sustainability and urban planning. Their interest in pursuing these fields comes from their passion for cultivating sustainable, dense urban areas that give people the ability to create strong community ties. A sense of community is important for them because of their personal experience with a lack of representation of the LGBTQI+ community in popular culture.

Tatyana Plummer

Russian, English

United States of America

American, Russian

The reason I am part of this project is because of the emotional connection I have, as a citizen of both Russia and the United States and as a Queer person.

I want to bring attention to the fact that Ramzan Kadyrov’s administration in Chechnya said, ‘You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the Republic’, in reference to the allegations of torture and concentration-style camps for gay men in the Republic of Chechnya. At the same time, in the United States, the 2020 Census and American Community Survey will exclude many LGBTQI+ people.

As someone who has a connection to both of these places, I want to show the relevance of Article 6 in both cases, and how exclusion from the census, or the cultural ideals of a country that doesn’t believe LGBTQI+ people exist, can eventually lead to conditions like those in Chechnya.

UDHR Article

Article 6

Quilt

Yellow quilt