Smile . It's good for everyone

I’m pretty excited about this new body of work. This series is headed to the new Soho House in Los Angeles. 

The first 6 pieces were inspired by some vintage sewing patterns that I scored at an estate sale in the suburbs of Chicago.The ones that I found were from the 40s/50s/60s and all of the illustrations were of white women. Not terribly surprising but I decided to hit up Ebay and see if I could get some diversity in my vintage sewing patterns since the major sewing pattern companies have been around for over 150 years. Turns out…women of color were not featured on sewing patterns until the late 60′s early 70′s as best as I can find (and with confirmation from one of the major sewing pattern companies). So the two women of color featured are from the first sewing patterns I could find that featured women of color. 

I hope to expand this series and bring a level of representation that did not exist. 

Hand embroidery and watercolor on cotton. 8x10

The final piece is for the text wall in the main clubhouse. 

This is Art

(despite what the patriarchy would have you believe)

My intention is to encourage people to pause and consider what gets considered art and what gets considered craft and why….(spoiler alert: it has to do with WHO makes it - their gender and color)

Goldwork embroidery on silk 11x17 

(and it’s hella hard to photograph it so I did the best I could)

I’m pretty excited about this new body of work. This series is headed to the new Soho House in Los Angeles. 

The first 6 pieces were inspired by some vintage sewing patterns that I scored at an estate sale in the suburbs of Chicago.The ones that I found were from the 40s/50s/60s and all of the illustrations were of white women. Not terribly surprising but I decided to hit up Ebay and see if I could get some diversity in my vintage sewing patterns since the major sewing pattern companies have been around for over 150 years. Turns out…women of color were not featured on sewing patterns until the late 60′s early 70′s as best as I can find (and with confirmation from one of the major sewing pattern companies). So the two women of color featured are from the first sewing patterns I could find that featured women of color. 

I hope to expand this series and bring a level of representation that did not exist. 

Hand embroidery and watercolor on cotton. 8x10

The final piece is for the text wall in the main clubhouse. 

This is Art

(despite what the patriarchy would have you believe)

My intention is to encourage people to pause and consider what gets considered art and what gets considered craft and why….(spoiler alert: it has to do with WHO makes it - their gender and color)

Goldwork embroidery on silk 11x17 

(and it’s hella hard to photograph it so I did the best I could)

Eritrea is one of the most repressive countries on earth, regularly referred to as Africa’s North Korea. Reporters Without Borders ranks it 179th among 179 countries when it comes to freedom of expression, lower than North Korea itself. 

Barely anyone is allowed a mobile phone. You need a permit to host a dinner party. A permit to travel to an adjacent village. Writing down a song or poem on a piece of paper could see you jailed for producing anti-government propaganda.  Even reporters for state-run outlets live in constant fear of arrest. The UN, in a report last year, concluded the population is kept in “a permanent state of anxiety”.

Extra-judicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrest are commonplace. There are at least 10,000 political prisoners in jail to silence political dissent (x)

There is mandatory indefinite military conscription from ages 18 through to 55 (in a country where life expectancy is 61) where 1 in 20 of the population currently serve.  The regime keeps the state on a war footing so it can conscript citizens into a form of forced labour, spending more time building homes for officials and officers than defending the country. There is also systematic sexual abuse of women in the military and pregnancies are banned.

One soldier complained about lack of vacation time and was jailed for two years, where he got one meal a day and one shower a month. He said “Hell is better” than Eritrea (x). Prisoners are regularly and systematically beaten, bound and tortured.

It accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of its continent’s people, yet last year there were more Eritreans arriving in Europe than from any other nation apart from refugees escaping war-torn Syria. Every month about 5,000 people flee the repressive nation.

We’ve walked with Harry, Ron and Hermione, through a world that we thought was great but slowly revealed itself to be the opposite. We unpeeled the layers of corruption within the government, we saw cruelty against minorities grow in the past decades, and had media attack us and had teachers tell us that we ‘must not tell lies’. We got angry and frustrated and, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, had to think of a way to fight back. And them winning? That would have been enough to give us hope and leave us satisfied.

But instead. There was skip scene. And suddenly they were all over 30 and happy with their 2.5 children.

And the Millennials were left flailing in the dust.

Because while we recognised and empathised with everything up to that point. But seeing the Golden Trio financially stable and content and married? That was not something our generation could recognise. Because we have no idea if we’re ever going to be able to reach that stage. Not with the world we’re living in right now.

Having Harry, Ron and Hermione stare off into the distance after the battle and wonder about what the future might be would have stuck with us. Hell, have them move into a shitty flat together and try and sort out their lives would have. Have them with screaming nightmares and failed relationships and trying to get jobs in a society that’s falling apart would have. Have them still trying to fix things in that society would have. Because we known Voldemort was just a symptom of the disease of prejudice the Wizarding World.

But don’t push us off with an ‘all was well’. In a world about magic, JK Rowling finally broke our suspension of disbelief by having them all hit middle-class and middle-age contentment and expecting a fanbase of teenagers to accept it.

Eritrea is one of the most repressive countries on earth, regularly referred to as Africa’s North Korea. Reporters Without Borders ranks it 179th among 179 countries when it comes to freedom of expression, lower than North Korea itself. 

Barely anyone is allowed a mobile phone. You need a permit to host a dinner party. A permit to travel to an adjacent village. Writing down a song or poem on a piece of paper could see you jailed for producing anti-government propaganda.  Even reporters for state-run outlets live in constant fear of arrest. The UN, in a report last year, concluded the population is kept in “a permanent state of anxiety”.

Extra-judicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrest are commonplace. There are at least 10,000 political prisoners in jail to silence political dissent (x)

There is mandatory indefinite military conscription from ages 18 through to 55 (in a country where life expectancy is 61) where 1 in 20 of the population currently serve.  The regime keeps the state on a war footing so it can conscript citizens into a form of forced labour, spending more time building homes for officials and officers than defending the country. There is also systematic sexual abuse of women in the military and pregnancies are banned.

One soldier complained about lack of vacation time and was jailed for two years, where he got one meal a day and one shower a month. He said “Hell is better” than Eritrea (x). Prisoners are regularly and systematically beaten, bound and tortured.

It accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of its continent’s people, yet last year there were more Eritreans arriving in Europe than from any other nation apart from refugees escaping war-torn Syria. Every month about 5,000 people flee the repressive nation.

Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service