Article 25

Andreia Schineanu

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 03:22:41 +0000

Andreia Schineanu website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 14:22

Feminist, social worker, academic, researcher and lover of textile arts, Andreia Schineanu has worked with fabric and embroidery for over 30 years as a hobby, but has only recently brought her craft together with her activism. Originally from Eastern Europe, Andreia arrived in Australia over 30 years ago as a refugee. Since then she has made Australia her home but as her three children are growing up, Andreia finds that she is becoming more socialist in her views, embracing political ideals that address inequality and inequity around the world, and she believes that with privilege comes responsibility to act on ideals not just talk. A staunch feminist, Andreia sometimes uses her craft to create awareness or educate on issues close to her heart such as violence against women. Her first craftivist project was called Wagga’s Dirty Laundry and it featured the words of local children who experienced domestic violence, embroidered on children’s clothing. Andreia believes that the sisterhood of women has the power to change the world and she will continue to contribute to this process through her work, craft and activism.

Andreia Schineanu

English

Australia

Refugee from Romania/Hungary

As a former refugee, the UDHR holds a special place for me. Health, particularly at the holistic level defined in Article 25, is the most basic of rights. It allows humans to thrive, not just survive. It ensures that when at our most vulnerable, we still have the necessities to stay healthy. Motherhood is also sacred, and the ability to create and nurture life is beyond wondrous.

I used repurposed fabrics as I strongly believe that to maintain health for ourselves and our planet, we need to stop destroying her resources and reuse as much as we can. I let the words take centre stage, but made the stitching rough and uneven to reflect our relationship with health and wellbeing. Sometimes it is great, and other times we struggle. Illness and disability can be harsh, but even when physically we might be unwell, mentally and emotionally we can show strength and resilience.

UDHR Article

Article 25

Quilt

Red quilt

Lelainia N. Lloyd

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:15:37 +0000

Lelainia N. Lloyd website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:15

Lelainia Lloyd is a self-taught, mixed-media artist, writer and designer. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she will always consider herself a dyed-in-the-wool prairie girl, but there’s no place else she’d rather live than on the beautiful west coast of Canada.

Most days Lelainia can be found working on a stack of current projects, with the music cranked up so she can get into her creative groove. When she comes up for air, she’s usually outdoors with her husband and their beloved black Lab, Indiana Jones, hiking the wilds, beachcombing for small treasures and photographing the beauty of her world.

Lelainia’s artwork and articles have appeared in numerous books, magazines, e-books and independent zine publications, including her own mixed media art zine, Manual Dexterity. Lelainia has designed for Paper Artsy (United Kingdom), Paper Valise (Canada) and Hannah Grey (United States) and has appeared as a guest artist on both Breakfast Television and The Shaw Express.

In 2010, Lelainia was chosen as torchbearer for the Paralympic Torch Relay, was a Difference Maker medal bearer in 2012 for the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in January 2013 for her lifetime of volunteer service to Canada. She is a passionate advocate for those living with neuromyelitis optica (NMO, a rare disease she lives with) and multiple sclerosis, and for accessibility and inclusion. She is a health blogger for the Rick Hansen Foundation, the MS Society of Canada and NMO Diaries.

Lelainia’s previous craftivism includes creating a quilt block for the United In Memory Quilt project in 2002 to memorialise those lost on 9/11. She has also contributed her work to numerous charitable causes.

Lelainia N. Lloyd

English, French

Canada

Canadian

As I read Article 25, I thought of my great-grandfather, Grandpa Nowell. He was a baker, forced to stop working after developing a severe wheat allergy. He had no means to support his wife and six children, save for going on ‘relief’. The government gave farmland to families on ‘relief’ so they could provide for themselves. Grandpa Nowell worked the farm for years. When my grandmother, Verna, was 17, she moved away for an office job and sent money home to support the family.

The photo in my block is of Grandpa Nowell, my great-granny and four of their children. The button is for my great-granny, who was a seamstress. The measuring tape belonged to Verna (middle, back row of the photo). The house is a cardboard scrap, representing poverty.

In many countries there is NO social safety net, and in those that have one, it’s often woefully inadequate. Poverty kills, and no country is immune.

UDHR Article

Article 25

Quilt

Green quilt

Kimberly Becker

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:38:40 +0000

Kimberly Becker website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:38

Kimberly Becker is a painter/embroiderer living in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a degree in textiles from Rhode Island School of Design and has been trained at Ecole Lesage in Paris as a master embroiderer. Her work is a passionate discussion of what it means to be female in the 21st century. Using the tools of women’s work, needle and thread, she is giving a voice to women.

Kimberly is currently developing an ever-growing body of work called The House Dress Project where she creates dresses that tell stories. The stories, which are shared with Kimberly by individual women, tell tales of being left behind, overlooked, held back and denied rights and dreams. Women have been suffering these injustices for centuries simply because they were born female. The current political climate in America is dragging women backwards. Women have stories to tell about the injustices they are suffering. Women have been largely left out of history and Kimberly believes it is time for them to be included.

Someone once described her work as ‘harnessing anger and creating beauty’. This sums up her art well. Experiencing her subtle colour palette, delicate creations and detailed embroidery work, you are drawn in and want to know more.

Participating in the #UDHRquilt Project was a perfect fit for Kimberly. Her quilt square features the image of the little boy who washed up dead on the beach after trying to escape his country with his family as a refugee. Women and children suffer differently. They need to be supported. The image Kimberly chose to use hits this issue hard.

Kimberly Becker

English

United States of America

American

I live in the United States. To me, it feels like we are living in a dictatorship. Women, children, people of colour, refugees, immigrants—all of us. I am terrified, furious, exhausted. In this country, abortion is legal, but the Trump administration is removing options. In this country, we finally had health care for all, but the Trump administration is under-funding the program, so it basically no longer exists. In this country, it is legal to seek asylum, but the Trump administration is taking families, separating them from their children and locking them up.

The image for my square is Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy who washed up on the beach in Turkey in 2015. Everyone knows that image. Everyone feels pain seeing that image. All his family wanted was a safe place to live. They were not a threat to anyone. They were leaving a threat behind. This little boy died because the world failed him and his family.

UDHR Article

Article 25

Quilt

Blue quilt

Dita Benina

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:53:31 +0000

Dita Benina website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:53

I started to study hand-embroidery seriously about eight years ago. I was and still am fascinated by this ancient craft and its purpose to make even the most mundane everyday things beautiful. I embroider book-bindings, so ancient manuscripts and illustrations are often my inspiration. Slowly I have also come to realise how powerful embroidery can be! Usually seen as ‘women’s’ way to make life more pretty by embroidering cute flowers on handkerchiefs and tablecloths, it has such an impact if used to make a political statement. This #UDHRquilt Project demonstrates it so vividly, and I am truly happy and honoured to be part of it!

Dita Benina

Latvian

Latvia

Latvian

I am a fat person. Every single day I get reminded by society and media that I am a lesser person because of that. A person with fewer rights, less value, less freedom, less intelligence. I get told that people who look like me should not exist.

Sometimes fatphobia is sad, sometimes angering. And there is one area where fatphobia is dangerous, even deadly: health and medical care. Fat people get denied medical service or are misdiagnosed due to ignorance, prejudice, lack of equipment, lack of commitment to the Hippocratic Oath. I chose Article 25 to remind the medical industry and fellow fat people that health care is a universal human right.

My embroidery is inspired by illuminated manuscripts. So beautiful and ornate—but when you look closer, you sometimes find a naughty scribble in the margin. For similar commentary on the Article I used images of an angel and a nurse, who, instead of a cross, has a line—a ‘No Access’ symbol—on her hat. I hope they make viewers think about the cruelty, illegality and inhumanity of being refused service by those whose job it is to help; about being let down by our ‘guardian angels’.

UDHR Article

Article 25

Quilt

Yellow quilt