The Material Language of Protest: Textile Art and Clothing Craftivism, Britain 1970-2018

This thesis analyses the material language of protest, specifically the communicative capacity of textile art and clothing handcrafted for activism in Britain from 1970 to 2018. The inquiry emerges from a multidisciplinary practice that became known as ‘craftivism’ (craft + activism), a term coined by writer Betsy Greer in 2003 to represent a craft-based movement that sought to reconceptualise handcraft as an alternative form of protest against social injustice and inequalities (Sinclair, 2014). Taking both a historical and a contemporary perspective, this research analyses the design, production and circulation of craftivism as well as its subsequent reception and interpretation within society. Although craftivism is a twenty-first-century neologism, it is nonetheless historically familiar, having been drawn on for centuries by women and marginalised groups as a strategy of empowerment, advocacy and protest (McGovern, 2019). Textile art and clothing took on renewed socio-political significance within the grassroots actions and mass demonstrations of the 1970s and 80s, marking a rise in the democratic use of art and craft as a communication tool in an age of visual media (McQuiston, 1997). Fibre-based crafts, such as sewing, embroidery and knitting were brought out of a domestic setting and repurposed as vehicles of material protest in support of the Anti-Cold War, Peace and Liberation movements (pertaining to gender, sexuality, and race). Suggestive symbols and opinionated slogans were sewn, painted or screen-printed onto banners, jackets and jumpers to confront injustice and inequalities.

During recent years, there has been a resurgence of artists, designers and amateur makers who employ handcraft to engage with pressing social and political issues, especially those underpinned by changes to the European and American political systems in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and the geopolitical consequences of President Trump’s 2017 inauguration. Both campaigns have resulted in societal divides, feelings of powerlessness, and a rising distrust of authority which have culminated in global protests that have engaged not only those who are marginalised, but also society at large. Trump’s presidential victory, in particular, raised anxieties amongst women who feared the advent of a heightened patriarchal power that would ultimately subjugate and exclude them, potentially affecting the future hegemony over their rights, health and bodies (Smirnova, 2018; Kaiser, 2020). With so much societal uncertainty, women felt that it was time to re-question their rights and current position in society, an uprising which was most notably demonstrated by the transnational Women’s March (2017), #Metoo Movement (2017) and the ‘Time’s Up’ Campaign (2018). The subversive and communicative capacities of clothing and textile art played a fundamental role in these movements to address ongoing issues of female inequality, sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence. This resurgence of do-it-yourself (DIY) craft culture in contemporary protests has prompted this critical and retrospective examination. Although several academics have also conducted similar revaluations of the role of craft in activism, none have comprehensively addressed its communicative capacity, specifically analysing the design, fabrication and dissemination choices of the makers themselves, which is a central focus of this study. This research analyses the different design strategies, encoding methods and fabrication processes used by makers to draw attention, garner support and ideally, incite long-term socio-political change. This study thus identifies those tactics that have proven most useful in resonating with their target audience during the period from 1970 to 2018. This research thus proposes that four distinct design elements controlled by the maker can influence how craftivism is perceived and responded, which include the following: materiality, content, context and the clothed body. The impact of technological advancements and social media platforms are also explored, specifically examining how they affect the design, making and dissemination of contemporary craftivism. To best capture and contextualise this approach, four specific case studies were analysed. These were the Women’s Liberation Movement (1970—1990); Punk Anti-Fashion (1974—1984); Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (1981—1991); and contemporary craftivism in the form of The Women’s Movement (2008—2018). The case studies are intentionally disparate, each selected to represent a diverse group of women who, despite their various backgrounds and political beliefs, utilised handcraft either individually or collectively to create and embellish clothing and textiles for the purposes of activism.

Many examples of craftivism have yet to be systematically investigated, as the circulation of activist clothing and textile art often occurs outside of organised institutions, given that they are informally displayed, exchanged, and worn. By assembling and categorising these individual objects, this study has a unique opportunity to examine how these textiles collectively serve to communicate extant issues visually, contextually and relationally. Despite the growing body of literature concerning craftivism, this in-depth analysis differentiates itself from previous research by examining craftivism holistically from process to product and its subsequent reception by society. There is also a dearth of research in terms of protest clothing, therefore justifying further investigation. Addressing this research gap will help to explain the role and influence of the clothed body on the presentation and reception of activist ideations since 1970.

To fully elucidate this line of inquiry, this research employs a multi-method data collection approach to examine both maker and artefact, an approach that draws upon the literature, archival research, object and visual analysis, focus group observation, and semi-structured interviews. To create a unique theoretical approach to craftivism, this thesis combines theories from the different fields of linguistics (Langer and Derrida) and material cultural studies (Gell and de Certeau) to determine the communicative capacity of craftivism as an object and practice of reform, as well as to understand the role of its makers, which are the key research inquiries. This theoretical framework helps to conceptualise craftivism as a social agent, representing the maker’s thoughts and beliefs through its materiality and aesthetics. These theories highlight the maker’s intentionality invested into objects at the varying level of design, production and circulation of craftivism, preparing it to fulfil its purpose to communicate socio-political ideas.