Article 17

Libby Simpson

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 03:02:25 +0000

Libby Simpson website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 14:02

Libby Simpson is a self-taught embroidery artist living in Cambridgeshire, England. She creates work under the moniker Oh My Golly Embroidery and sells hoops, badges and patches in her Etsy store of the same name.

Her work is often inspired by nostalgia, feminism, politics and popular culture (specifically music).

She started the participatory #stitchittotrump craftivist project on Instagram, where embroidery artists from all over the United Kingdom (and other parts of the world too) created individual pieces of work that reflected their feelings about Trump’s 2018 UK visit and celebrated the diversity of the country.

As an introspective introvert, she has found that stitching in solitude is the ideal way of creating work that expresses parts of her personality and points of view that she is often too anxious to reveal under other circumstances.

Libby Simpson

English

England, United Kingdom

English

I’m a homebody and always have been. Home and family are the most important things to me, especially since I became a mother.

I began this quilt block just as the Grenfell Tower fire happened in London in June 2017. It was impossible not to think of Article 17 in relation to that tragedy. Our inability to provide safe housing for the poor and vulnerable is a shocking violation of basic human rights. Many survivors are still displaced, despite being promised rehousing within a week of the fire. The survivors and the bereaved were abandoned by those in positions of power and they are still waiting for justice.

Each word of the Article is placed within a brick of a wall representing the literal bricks and mortar of property and also the figurative wall that displaced people often face in the form of systemic governmental failures. The loose threads signify the fragility of this human right.

UDHR Article

Article 17

Quilt

Red quilt

Jo Beazley

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:11:21 +0000

Jo Beazley website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:11

Jo Beazley was asked to participate in this project by a crafty friend—who subsequently pulled out—and still feels slightly ill at the thought of her work being shown alongside professional textile artists from around the world. Jo is a mum, wife, librarian, coffee addict, lover of all things shiny and tactile including technology, fabric, lipstick and flowers. And books! Don't forget books! She is a proud wearer of a pussy hat her friend knitted for her. Her grandmother went to her grave bemoaning the fact Jo could not knit, even though she can stitch and quilt. Jo wishes the world could really live as one (to quote John Lennon).

Jo Beazley

English

Australia

Australian

The notion of craftivism speaks to me, and I can use the things I love doing—stitching and embroidery—to make a statement and help make people think. [But] I feel slightly ill at the thought of my work being shown alongside professional textile artists from around the world!

Using a piece of household sheeting (a pillowcase; the rest of the sheets are long gone in post-flood clean-up) and redwork, I stitched Article 17 in DMC 221, using mainly backstitch. I was inspired by a series of posters I saw in Melbourne by the Women’s Domestic Needlework Group 1979 looking at representation of Australiana in design. I have cupboards full of house embroidery patterns (I cannot draw for peanuts!), and the image is by Jenny Bishop, with Article 17 superimposed on the archetypical Australian landscape.

UDHR Article

Article 17

Quilt

Green quilt

Judy O'Riordan

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:34:51 +0000

Judy O'Riordan website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:34

Judy O’Riordan is a printmaker, textile artist, maker, collector and chancer who lives and works in Limerick, Ireland. Since she was a young child, Judy has followed in her aunt’s footsteps and has always been making things, either sewing, knitting, crocheting, painting or gluing things together. She wanted to go to art college when younger but discovered work, and liked getting a wage at the end of the week!

Finally, she got to go to art college as a mature student and obtained her degree in printmaking and contemporary practice in 2015. During her studies, she taught herself how to cross-stitch and used this form as a way of expression. Judy’s work focuses on social topics which people find hard to talk about, such as domestic violence against men, violence against children and the mind of serial killers. She finds cross-stitch a perfect technique to use for articulating her work.

Judy is a modest, quiet person who believes in social democracy but prefers to express and make social comment through the form of craftivism. She also uses cross-stitch sometimes to just express her own feelings and profanities! Her work has also attracted a number of commissions, including creating a piece for a book cover. Judy has also exhibited a piece in an exhibition in Limerick for The Limerick Spring – Festival of Politics and Ideas, where the theme was ‘Hope in uncertain times’.

Cross-stitch, for Judy, is relaxing, slow, rhythmic and meditative. She loves the calming effect it has on her while also giving her the courage to express herself. She uses her needle and thread as her drawing tools and loves what can be created with them.

Judy O'Riordan

English

Ireland

Irish

Ireland during the 2000s had rapid economic growth. In 2008, the property-bubble burst following the collapse of the banking system; the banks had lent exorbitant amounts to developers and homeowners and there were no regulations. Enter the recession! Homes and properties were not worth the value of the loans and mortgages. This, combined with rising unemployment, meant many people lost their homes.

Homelessness is also down to a poor public-housing system and a growing private-rental market. Ten years ago, one in ten households lived in private rentals; now it’s almost one in five. With the lack of affordable houses, more people are struggling as landlords increase their rents. In 2017 alone, one charity supported over 14,000 people.

Cross-stitching is traditionally a domestic craft. This is suitably ironic, given the subject matter. I chose a box-tea-dyed evenweave cloth. The brown reminded me of the colour of earth, where the foundations of a home are set.

UDHR Article

Article 17

Quilt

Blue quilt

Ragtale

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:50:21 +0000

Ragtale website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:50

Lisa Halldén (Ragtale) is a journalist with a passion for storytelling. She went to school in London and although a big part of her heart remains in England, she has for many years been based in Sweden. As a journalist, her storytelling mainly revolves around news reporting in her local Stockholm area, but when thread is put to fabric, the scope widens.

She started making embroidered street art as a reaction to the refugee crisis in the autumn of 2015. As the humanitarian crisis unfolded in Europe, she began to grow frustrated with how her own words on the subject were rattled out so fast and lightly on a keyboard. She found that the time and touch ploughed into embroidery strengthened the political power of the message.

Her embroidery tells stories of feminism, human rights and resistance against oppression. By putting up the embroidery on the street, she wants her pieces to work as little prayer flags, calling for freedom and love, equality and solidarity, and all the beauty of humanity.

Ragtale

Swedish

Sweden

Swedish

For Indigenous people and for women, the right to land and property helps determine their security. But in Sápmi, home to the Indigenous Sami of northern Scandinavia, borders drawn up by imperialist governments cut through the country like scars. The Sami’s battles with the Swedish state and international corporations illustrate how Article 17 fails to protect marginalised groups.

At a time of rising nationalism, it is important to highlight how nation states are political constructions. Myriad identities and cultures exist within borders that are possible to upheave and redraw. Between those who seek refuge from outside a border and those already inside, there is only a thin political line.

I have woven in symbols of people whose land has been arbitrarily taken, and a portrait of Elsa Laula, a Sami feminist activist who fought for her people’s right to their land under the oppression of patriarchy and colonisation. I want her fierceness to remind us of the importance of organised resistance.

UDHR Article

Article 17

Quilt

Yellow quilt