ABSTRACT
Contemporary Illinois-based artist Kathy Halper links the pedagogy of social media with that of women’s work through constructed embroidered narratives. An artistic manifestation of life since ancient times, embroidery has long been both a teaching tool and a visual reflection of society. The sampler—a swath of loom-woven cloth onto which intricately patterned borders and various stitches are embroidered—dates back to 14th-century Egypt. In disparity to the historical social network of embroidery circles, quilting bees, and other face-to-face settings in which aspects of daily life, normative culture, and expectations were communicated through needlework, Halper emphasizes the manner in which young people today post images of private moments that normalize sexual experimentation, drinking, and other social acts. In Halper’s painstaking, time-consuming embroidered drawings, an image of a performative act is both memorialized and questioned through the labor-intensive process.
