Extreme Embroidery

By Jess McCabe | 17 March 2008, 16:26

Embroidery is, of course, one of those traditional “female arts”. While it has a historic and rich tradition world over, these masterpieces were uncredited to the artists responsible - women.

We make money not art reviews an excellent exhibition, unfortunately in New York, about modern “extreme embroidery”, which is now carried out by both men and women.

However, it is probably unsurprising that the themes chosen by artists working in this medium are of interest to us - for example, Andrea Dezsö’s series of pieces, Lessons From My Mother. (It wasn’t very good advice - see below!)

Indeed, most of the work seems to hinge on the contradiction between the “feminine” medium of embroidery, and the subject matter - whether that be the cell structure of viruses such as herpes and SARS, or a skeleton having its eye sockets violated.

More info here for lucky readers who can catch this exhibition in New York. Also check out this info on a previous exhibition called “Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting”.

Your Comments

chem_fem said:

I love this stuff! I have the subversive cross stitch book and love looking at the subversive crafts on craftster.com.

thanks for sharing.

Posted on 17 March 2008 at 6:53 PM

Lindsey said:

damnit! Just when I start planning my cross stitch project I find someone else has got there first.

Posted on 18 March 2008 at 9:54 AM

Have your say

In order to keep this blog as a feminist and friendly space, comments will be subject to some rules. We do not seek to censor debate: the beauty of the internet is that anyone can set up their own blog or website to express their views.

This blog is a safe and friendly space for feminists and feminist allies. Debate and critique are welcome where it is constructive and deepens analysis or understanding. Anti-feminist comments will not be approved. We get to decide what's anti-feminist.
All comments must be approved by one of the bloggers. For this reason, there may be a delay before your comment appears.
No sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, ablist comments, comments which make personal attacks on any blogger or commenter, or comments that are otherwise deemed offensive by us will be posted.
Trolls will be banned from commenting. We get to decide who is a troll.
No anonymous comments - please feel free to use your real name or make one up, though.
Be nice.

< back | top ^ | next >

Latest Posts: 11th International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, 20th November 2009; A Tweet Too Far?; New feature: A gude cause maks a strong arm; Transcribers wanted; New feature: Bright Star and women in film; New feature: Gender and sentencing; TDOR photo exhibition, Brighton, 19-21 November; Reclaim the Night London; Strictly all-female; New feature: A streamlined new me; More posts

Latest Comments: aimee on A Tweet Too Far?; Elmo on 11th International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, 20th November 2009; Lynne Miles on 11th International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, 20th November 2009; Elmo on Guest Post: Misfits and rape culture; zohra on Reclaim the Night London; zohra on 11th International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, 20th November 2009; gadgetgal on A Tweet Too Far?; Rita on A Tweet Too Far?; polly on A Tweet Too Far?; Polly on A Tweet Too Far?

More feminist bloggers: There are plenty of fantastic UK feminist bloggers around. For a fantastic introduction to feminist blogging, go to the Carnival of Feminists website, which showcases the finest feminist posts from around the blogsphere, including many from UK blogs.

How to contribute to The F-Word: Got something to say? Something to review? News to discuss? Well we want to hear from you! Click here for more info

Events: Check out our events listings for info on some of the fantastic feminist events going on up and down the country. Please get in touch to tell us about events we've not listed yet.

Small Print: All blog posts are the views of the individual post author, and not those of The F-Word.