Buy it from Bookshop.org and support local booksellers
Making the link between activism and crafting is at one level to point out a practical issue – in an era before print-on demand and drop-shopping sites if you were a small activist group if you wanted a visible identity or expression of your campaign you were going to have to make it yourself.
But there is more going on here – there are choices made towards the handmade that go beyond necessity. People are still crafting their protest banners. Zine makers might rarely be physically copying and pasting their content now, but the ethos remains the same.
The reflections on the UK AIDS Quilt, draw out the connection, the investment of time in making a personal tribute. It was interesting to have read out it a week or so before going to see it on display at Tate Modern – the tenderness of it and the tragedy of it – but also the logistical demands of caring for the Quilt, the rarity of the opportunity to display it.
The creativity of many of the work discuss is part of its power – when you are denied the chance to speak you can make your voice seen instead. There is also a tendency towards the witty, which creates the potential for subversion without confrontation.
And in need for queer activism is rising again – to now is not the time to put the sewing machines and badge makers away...
No comments:
Post a Comment