Textiles have long been a vehicle for protest and resistance, from the embroidered tapestries made by Chilean women during the Pinochet dictatorship to the monumental quilt memorialising those who died in the AIDS pandemic. Here, Crafts brings together a panel of artists to discuss fibre art’s relationship with politics and activism, and how they are using it to call for social change.
This talk – introduced by Crafts' Malaika Byng and chaired by Dominique Heyse-Moore, senior curator (Textiles & Wallpaper) at The Whitworth Art Gallery – touches on both historical and contemporary examples. Speakers include Crafts' January/February issue cover star Anya Paintsil, whose deeply personal wall hangings are threaded with biting critiques about racism; Ibrahim Mahama, whose large-scale installations, made using jute sacks and other found materials, explore themes of migration, trade and exploitation; and Aram Han Sifuentes, who founded the US-based Protest Banner Lending Library after the election of Donald Trump.