Fray: Art and Textile Politics

Bryan-Wilson, Julia. Fray: Art and Textile Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2017.

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Abstract (English)

"Closely examining how amateurs and fine artists in the United States and Chile turned to sewing, braiding, knotting, and quilting amid the rise of global manufacturing, Julia Bryan-Wilson argues that textiles unravel the high/low divide and urges us to think flexibly about what the politics of textiles might be. Her case studies from the 1970s through the 1990s—including the improvised costumes of the theater troupe the Cockettes, the braided rag rugs of US artist Harmony Hammond, the thread-based sculptures of Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña, the small hand-sewn tapestries depicting Pinochet’s torture, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt—are often taken as evidence of the inherently progressive nature of handcrafted textiles. Fray, however, shows that such methods are recruited to often ambivalent ends, leaving textiles very much “in the fray” of debates about feminized labor, protest cultures, and queer identities; the malleability of cloth and fiber means that textiles can be activated, or stretched, in many ideological directions." -- Publisher's website.

Types: Monographs
All Contributors: Bryan-Wilson, Julia (Author)
Dossier: 800 - ARTS TEXTILES ET PAPIER / FIBRE ARTS
Collation: 326 pages : colour illustrations ; 26 cm
ISBN: 9780226077819
Language of Publication: English
Publishers: Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
Artists: The Cockettes (Collective); Rivera, Daniela; Vicuña, Cecilia
Keywords: TEXTILE ART; ARPILLERA; PROTEST; ACTIVISM; ART AND SOCIETY; FIBRE ART; FABRIC; QUILTMAKING; FEMINISM; CRAFT
Copyright Statement: University of Chicago Press
Notes:

Dust Jacket.
Includes index.
Includes bibliographical references.

Deposited by: Collections
Date Deposited: 29 Mar 2021 18:48
Last Modified: 23 Jun 2021 19:17
URI: http://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/32529
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