Wednesday 20 January 2021

Make more love

 It's nice that even when galleries haven't been allowed to open, they are still able to encourage artists.

Just checking out what the CFCCA have been up to led me to Frances Yeung's Finding Feminity in the Archive. I was especially touched by her Love is Chores. It reminded me of a talk I went to at the Whitworth Art Gallery, "Uzbek Suzani embroideries" by Noorah al Gailani, which the internet tells me was back in the summer of 2019. It was very well attended- I arrived late and the staff were putting out extra chairs.

The embroideries concerned are large wall hangings made as dowry pieces. They were shown to display skill, wealth, increase good fortune, and so on. Ms al-Gailani mentioned that these embroideries were an expression of love, the families' love for the daughters that were leaving them to live with their husbands' families. The time, work and expense, to express love. It struck me as the same reason women (and I suppose some men as well) make embroidered samplers to celebrate family events.

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Is it internationalism

 Actually, I feel like I am just not clever enough to understand the concept of internationalism as a political principle/doctrine/belief system; but I have been thinking about it.

Stone Flowers put out a new song, Change the World, just recently, and I have also just recently come across the Asymptote site, dedicated to showcasing international literature translated into English. Though created by people very different from me, with very different life experiences than me, both express ideas that I agree with, that I want to share.

Tuesday 5 January 2021

 Karen Arthur's Wear Your Happy video for 64 Million Artists' January Challenge reminded me of the lovely sustainable fashion workshop at Stitched Up Co-op that was developed and put on by Mien by Miss E and Wardrobe Wellbeing. (However, I am still wearing my usually scruffy clothes.)