ABSTRACT
‘Craftivism: A material ethics of care’ argues the links between ‘new materialism’ and preceding feminist theory and art. It also contextualises the contemporary turn to craft within both recent philosophical developments and historical practices, analysing works that have problematised the public/domestic divide by connecting domestic crafts with politics and institutional critique. In particular, the chapter reads these developments through the perspective of innovative First Nations’ practices and care ethics. Artists and curatorial projects discussed include: Ernabella and Utopia batik, The Sydney Women’s Art Movement-affiliated Women’s Domestic Needlework Group, intergenerational and community-based projects like Mothers’ Memories, Others’ Memories (1979–1981), Yolngu string work (Ngarrawu Mununggurr and others), Esme Timbery, Dulcie Greeno and Liam Benson, and the campaigning of the Knitting Nannas Against Coal Seam Gas. We also consider the work of Australians Narelle Jubelin, Sera Waters, Michele Elliot and Raquel Ormella, along with the Oregon-based artist Natalie Ball and Inuit artist Taqralik Partridge.
