![beefranck:
faketrain:
[img: colour photograph of a confessional sampler, red cross stitched words as described below on white fabric. the fabric has some obvious signs of age, it is from the 19th century.]
ourcatastrophe:
beefranck:
The last post reminded me of this confessional sampler, stitched by a 19th century woman struggling with thoughts of suicide.
Click the image for more pictures and the complete text.
holy hell. this is… intense reading.
been doing a lot of cross stitch lately. I find “radical cross stitch” as a concept a bit uninspiring because I feel like it’s often approached as parody? like ha ha, look at the incongruity, this bitter or edgy message in this traditionally saccharine medium. but in fact (as this piece shows) embroidery in general and the cross stitched sampler in particular have a rich and complicated and often subversive history. it’s women’s culture, women’s communication, women’s lives. I’m more interested in modern embroidery that’s conceptualised as a continuation rather than a parody of traditional embroidery.
“I’m more interested in modern embroidery that’s conceptualised as a continuation rather than a parody of traditional embroidery.”
That word - I do not think it means what you think it means.
con·tin·u·a·tion
NOUN
1. process of continuing: the process of continuing something without interruption
2. addition or extension: an additional part that extends something that already exists or has already begun
3. starting again after interruption: the renewal of an action, event, or process after it has been interrupted
I put it to you that the things my friends and I make ARE a continuation of traditional embroidery, and they shouldn’t be dismissed just because the subjects aren’t traditional.
Inclusion: Think about it, won’t you? Thank you.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfolkhvePL1qzc18no1_500.jpg)
[img: colour photograph of a confessional sampler, red cross stitched words as described below on white fabric. the fabric has some obvious signs of age, it is from the 19th century.]
The last post reminded me of this confessional sampler, stitched by a 19th century woman struggling with thoughts of suicide.
Click the image for more pictures and the complete text.
holy hell. this is… intense reading.
been doing a lot of cross stitch lately. I find “radical cross stitch” as a concept a bit uninspiring because I feel like it’s often approached as parody? like ha ha, look at the incongruity, this bitter or edgy message in this traditionally saccharine medium. but in fact (as this piece shows) embroidery in general and the cross stitched sampler in particular have a rich and complicated and often subversive history. it’s women’s culture, women’s communication, women’s lives. I’m more interested in modern embroidery that’s conceptualised as a continuation rather than a parody of traditional embroidery.
“I’m more interested in modern embroidery that’s conceptualised as a continuation rather than a parody of traditional embroidery.”
That word - I do not think it means what you think it means.
con·tin·u·a·tion
NOUN
1. process of continuing: the process of continuing something without interruption
2. addition or extension: an additional part that extends something that already exists or has already begun
3. starting again after interruption: the renewal of an action, event, or process after it has been interrupted
I put it to you that the things my friends and I make ARE a continuation of traditional embroidery, and they shouldn’t be dismissed just because the subjects aren’t traditional.
Inclusion: Think about it, won’t you? Thank you.
