• Beatrice Alemagna
    Vi går till parken, 2019

  • Martin Jacobson
    Katedralen, 2018

  • Jenny Holzer
    Wanås Wall, 2002

  • Katarina Löfström
    Open Source, 2018

  • Malin Holmberg
    I will stop loving you, 2010

  • Sarah Schwartz
    Mother, 1990

  • Beatrice Alemagna
    Vi går till parken, 2019

  • Martin Jacobson
    Katedralen, 2018

  • Jenny Holzer
    Wanås Wall, 2002

  • Katarina Löfström
    Open Source, 2018

  • Malin Holmberg
    I will stop loving you, 2010

  • Sarah Schwartz
    Mother, 1990

  • Beatrice Alemagna
    Vi går till parken, 2019

  • Martin Jacobson
    Katedralen, 2018

  • Jenny Holzer
    Wanås Wall, 2002

  • Katarina Löfström
    Open Source, 2018

  • Malin Holmberg
    I will stop loving you, 2010

  • Sarah Schwartz
    Mother, 1990

  • Beatrice Alemagna
    Vi går till parken, 2019

  • Martin Jacobson
    Katedralen, 2018

  • Jenny Holzer
    Wanås Wall, 2002

  • Katarina Löfström
    Open Source, 2018

  • Malin Holmberg
    I will stop loving you, 2010

  • Sarah Schwartz
    Mother, 1990

Art 2018

Knitting activism – Knit Against Gender-Based Viloence 

Opening Saturday June 9, 2018
Exhibition Period June 9 – Aug 24, 2018
Initiative of Sticka för fred, Östra Göinge

This summer, knitting activists from Basque and Göinge come together at Wanås Konst to bring attention to and protest gender-related violence. Since 2014, the Basque organization Harituz has worked with the project Madejas contra la violencia sexista—Skeins Against Gender-Based Violence, which is a constantly growing knitting project that travels from city to city. On World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 9, the project lands at Wanås Konst, with the fully 2-kilometre- long continuous knitted swath, exhibited even as it continues to grow over the summer.

Harituz has been invited on the initiative of the local knitting activist group Sticka för fred [Knit for Peace], which has spread guerilla knitting and the message of peace locally and globally in recent years. They knit scarves and hats for statues and knit doves of peace for world leaders whom they think need them. “We exist just as much for those who agree with us as those who disagree with us,” says Gerd Persson, resident of Broby and one of the founders of Sticka för fred. The goal of Madejas contra la violencia sexista is to spread knowledge about and bring awareness to the issue of violence against women. The goal is to someday wrap the EU Parliament in Brussels in the several-kilometre-long, scarflike knit.

Both groups are a part of a global movement that wants to make a difference. In English, we find the expression Craftivism: Craft + Activism. It is a slow form of activism that manifests its views through craft. The repetitiveness and slow pace of craft gives time for reflection and conversation. Using visual symbols, they want to activate awareness of the issues they are passionate about. They are contemporary craftspeople who want to make a difference and take place in the public arena. 

When it became clear that Donald Trump had won the election in the USA, women all over the world knit pink “pussy hats” to show their dissatisfaction over the future president’s view of women, and to demonstrate that they stood together. Many craftivists engage in the feminist struggle—banners and flags have been traded for textiles coded “feminine,” such as embroidered and knit objects. These are the same materials and techniques used by previous generations of women and that unite women the world over.

– Malin Gustavsson

Sticka för fred is a network of knitting activists in Östra Göinge. Everything they knit is marked with the message “Sticka för fred” [Knit for Peace]. With their guerilla knitting, they want to decorate public spaces with items that can be useful at the same time as they spread their message of peace. The group has previously participated in the Cirkus Cirkör’s exhibition Knitting Peace at the Army Museum in Stockholm.

The Harituz Organization is based in Astigarraga, autonomous Basque Country, Spain, and works to educate people about gender equality. Their goal is to create the space for dialogue among citizens about gender-based violence in all its forms and magnitudes. The scarf has previously been displayed in various Spanish cities and in Lisbon, Portugal.

Do you want to contribute to the scarf?
Your segment should be 30 cm wide and as much or as little as you want. Drop off or send your contribution to Wanås Konst, Box 67, 289 21 Knislinge, by August 30, 2018.