What do you get when you cross crafts with activism? Craftivism!
“Craftivism has been around for a long time,” Buffalo River volunteer Ginny Masullo, said. “It’s the name that’s new. Change requires both an inner and outer dialogue. Craftivism, or activism through the art of crafts, fosters such dialogue. Betsy Greer coined the word with her book, Craftivism. Craftivism invites people to engage in conversation about the social and perhaps political intent of one’s arts-and-crafts creations. Greer says that craftivism differs from more traditional forms of activism and in-your-face protest actions, which can be polarizing.”
Masullo said Buffalo River prayer flags are an example of craftivism at its finest.
“Prayer flags are a way to express beauty around even contentious issues,” Masullo said. “The idea for the prayer flags came as a people’s project in that it is a way for people who are not prone to march or demonstrate, say, or write letters to the editors, to express their love and care for the river and display it. Hopefully, everyone who makes the flags and those who see the flags are uplifted and inspired to protect the river. The silent prayers or wishes are blessings released to the wind.”
Violet Trosper of Memphis, Tenn., made some elaborate Buffalo River prayer flags for Masullo’s birthday.
“Violet is a very astute and politically conscious person who expresses her concerns through her art,” Masullo said. “I hung the prayer flags in my house and several Buffalo River folks said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool for other people to make these and even send some to the governor?’”
Trosper’s project took her two years. There was a desire to make it simpler, out of which the people’s Buffalo River Prayer Flag project was launched.
“I just put the idea out there at a woman’s gathering and Faye Alter, a fabric artist in Fayetteville, said she could make the blank flags for people to decorate,” Masullo said. “These are plain white muslin. She made 88 flags, some that have been distributed to several women’s groups in Newton and Washington counties, and some to individuals. Then another friend started making the colorful flags with her craft group.”
Another local example of craftivism is work done by Donna Sternja Mulhollan of the Fayetteville-based folk duo Still on the Hill. Mulhollan uses quilts and artwork displayed while performing songs about agri-business’s animal confinement practices.
Donna and her husband, Kelly, designed an interactive shrine to Emily the Cow which they featured at the “Don’t Fence Me In” event on Earth Day in Fayetteville two years ago. Emily the Cow became famous after jumping a five-ft. fence to escape from a Massachusetts slaughterhouse in 1995 and eluding capture for 40 days during one of the coldest Novembers in history.
“The nearby Quaker Peace Abbey befriended the cow, named her Emily, and bought her from the slaughterhouse for $1,” Masullo said. “Emily lived for another nine years, and people came from all around the globe to meet her. Emily’s story came to Fayetteville, carried by craftivism.
Beside the shrine was a “crankie,” which Donna described as an old Appalachian storytelling device. It’s a large box with two dowels. The top dowel has a crank and the bottom dowel has fabric attached. On the fabric, the story is told.”
Masullo described the entire “Don’t Fence Me In” event as a craftivist extravaganza that was successful in engaging people about what we can do to make a difference for this old blue planet.
Another example she gives of craftivism is artist Weyam Ghadbian, a second generation Syrian former resident of Fayetteville living and working in California.
“Her handmade book on Palestinian cross-stitch (Cross-stitch Intifada) highlights Palestinian embroidery as a form of craftivism. Ghadbian said in the case of Palestinian cross-stitch and embroidery, Palestinian women are acting as craftivists by preserving their cultural history in a context (Israeli settler colonialism) which seeks to erase it,” Masullo said.
“By stitching centuries-old embroidery motifs with specific meanings and affiliations with their particular villages and locales, Palestinian women are re-inscribing their cultural memory,” Ghadbian said. “They are asserting their existence. We are here, stitch, we have been here, stitch, we cannot be erased, stitch.”
Another example is a 90-year-old Australian man who knitted tiny sweaters for penguins affected by an oil spill.
“His little sweaters prevent penguins from swallowing deadly oil when they clean themselves,” Masullo said. “That project may have more impact on the hearts and minds of others than a mass demonstration protesting big oil.”
Craftivism has also been used to raise awareness such as the case of a student in Professor Susan Moss’s craftivism class at Fort Lewis College in Colorado who embroidered 7,000 French knots and one heart on a gray background – the gray color representing the brain.
“The student’s craftivist creation commemorates not only her father, who died of a brain cancer, but the 7,000 people a year who die of the same disease in the United States,” Masullo said. “In stitching this embroidery, she contemplates her own father. In sharing the finished work, she raises people’s awareness about the disease.”
Check out the Facebook site the Buffalo River Prayer Flag Project for more information.