‘Syjunta’ is a combination of the two words sewing and guerrilla in Swedish. It’s a soft word for craft-related sewing circles in which participants, often women, meet regularly to sew, to knit, to quilt, to weave and to do embroidery. It’s a place that holds idle conversations as well as political discussions. The English expressions ’chew the rag’ is connected to the exchange of gossip some of these gatherings might hold as a weekly newspaper. In Greek the word Πλέξιμο can be used for craft but also for social misunderstandings. A direct word to all the grannies inside of us.
While staying at Yellow Brick in the textile area of New Ionia, Angelica Falkeling conducts and hosts a series of workshops in the tone, energy and atmosphere of sewing circles as a place for learning, connected to her interest in intersectional feminist practices and cross-generational dialogues. Her shyness is bounced and the workshops place holders for learning for its participants as well as for the artist herself. The series of social gatherings contains the making of braids at the hairdresser, low-fi basket binding (as a carrier of fiction) and dying textiles using material in the nearby surroundings. Falkelings stay ends with a small Thesmophoria fiest, when the seeds has grown, colored the garment, and served for tea. What sort of pace and rhythm does a material give you?
Images 1-5, from exhibition
Images 5-10, from the sewing circle which took place in the pharmacy of Alina Panagiotopoulou, many thanks for hosting us.
With the kind support of:
