Voices of Yarn – What is important for you?
Be a part of the ongoing project Voices of Yarn! Gerillaslöjdsfestivalen is invited by the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Institute as a part of the current exhibition Urban Challenges which takes place at the House of Sweden in Washington. As a visitor at the exhibition you will be able to participate with your yarn ball with these instructions:
The project and exhibition will be open until March 2020 and our hope is to have a really long carpet with accompanying wishes to it. Participate and create, what is important for you?
The Voices of Yarn carpet is connected to our ongoing project Fantasin till makten (e.g Let imagination rule) where we currently are making a carpet to the swedish politicians with encouragement and inspiration to more courage and care. This carpet will be handed over to Swedish government in september 2019. (More information in Swedish here)
And if you may be curious about us and the Guerrilla Crafts Festival, here is some more information to you!
Gerillaslöjdsfestivalen (“the Guerrilla Crafts Festival”) is a festival that seeks to challenge and embolden politicians to act with greater courage and humanity. The Guerrilla Crafts Festival consist of Maria Yvell (@virkadygnetrunt) and Frida Arnqvist Engström (@kurbitsmedia). It is a creative network and sometimes a space where people gather to manifest their opinions through crafts. At the moment in full work with the Swedish yarn ball carpet. And recently before that they gathered to dress an entire bridge in the City of Borås in Sweden in hand-made fabrics.
The Guerilla Crafts Festival seeks to:
- Find makers who have not thought politically about their craft previously and to acquaint and involve them with Craftivism.
- Give people an opportunity to express their political opinions through their hands. The Guerrilla Crafts Festival intends to widen the concept of democracy while it upgrades women’s handiwork.
- Act as a broad political voice and provide an opportunity for more people to immerse themselves in important social issues.Crafts can make a difference. Is it possible to change the world with your hands? This movement of makers claim they can. They live with the conviction that every time you work, you bring about change. Guerrilla craft can be knitted, scrubbed or sown.It involves a creative mix of crafts, street art and installations. What brings them together is the creativity surrounding the material used and the message they deliver.The movement is not in itself loud or even audible. It is also not particularly destructive. Bead plates can be removed, knitting can be cut, embroidered stitches can be ripped open and plants can be moved.The handicraft activist wants to challenge prevailing ideas, whether it is through feminism, consumer criticism or ghting for human rights.
On guerilla crafts in general:
Today’s practitioners of creative craftsmanship see themselves as being a part of society. For them, creativity goes hand in hand with politics. This political aware- ness is combined with the techniques and materials used to create a message. The movement of people who want to change the world with their hands has many names. “Stitch’n bitch” DIY (do it yourself), punk embroidery, craftivism, seed bombing, grass graffti and cleaning graffti. They are all part of a handmade revolution!
These activists believe in a sustainable way of life, a new economic system and the creative power of everyone. They seek a different lifestyle and see an opportunity for change through the work of their hands. So for them, making is an identity marker: “I am one who does myself.” With their choices, they want to contribute to a more sustainable and better world.
They have developed a concept that includes collaborative projects and they create networks around activist activities. They have carried out two large projects so far and have more planned for the future.
The first Guerrilla Crafts Festival was held in Folkets Hus community center in Bagarmossen, outside Stockholm, in October 2016. In September 2017 they participated in the street and art festival ‘No Limit’ in Borås. With the help of practitioners from all over the country, they managed to dress a bridge in textiles – involving more than 500 square feet of fabric!
A large and extremely committed network has come together to change the world … with their hands.
