Call them craftivists, call them protest artists – one thing’s certain: their work is vital, now more than ever. Through thread, fabric, words and images, these makers articulate what many of us are too afraid to say out loud, raising dissent against injustice, exploitation, and destruction. While their tools may be humble – a knitting needle, a sewing machine – their impact is anything but.
Craftivism, a term popularised in the early 2000s by knitter and anti-sweatshop activist Betsy Greer, merges craft and activism, using creativity as a powerful form of protest. Historically, ‘women’s work’ was seen as ‘unthreatening’, paving the way for crafts like sewing and quilting to become potent tools for change, often carrying coded messages of resistance.
More than 180 years before the word ‘craftivism’ existed, members…
