It’s funny how quick we can cling to our ideals so much that we overlook stark realities. How we can wrap ourselves up in our own lives and thoughts and projects and fail to really truly see what’s right in front of us. Recently there has been some discussion online about what craftivism is. Is it this? Is it that? Who can use it? What can it be used for? To me, it’s an umbrella term that captures every movement you consciously make towards making the world a better place via your creativity.
It’s become something so broad and so open-ended that in some ways it’s caused problems instead of helped to identify or explain. So one of the things on my to-do list is to capture the various definitions I’ve used to define craftivism in one place, along with the definitions from others, with this collection made in the hopes that if you’re trying to figure out what this all means craftivism.com can serve as a resource with an aim toward making things more understandable and less amorphous. And there will also be this blog that is updated semi-regularly about the everyday aspects of what it can mean to live an ethical life in modernity.
I’ve also started drafting a FAQ document so if people want to know quick answers they can find them. Eventually, I’d like to have other things linked to the site that others have written about craftivism (essays, theses, etc.) but it’s all a work in progress, much like life itself. Have any ideas? Definitions? Queries? Advice? Things to include? Then please feel free to either comment below or email me, as always. And since it’s just me, myself and I round these parts, it may take me a bit to get back to you, but I will, I promise!
That all being said, here are a few photographs taken from a recent expedition on a former commercial shrimping boat off the coast of Georgia. After only two hours on the boat, I was struck by how difficult and raw and backbreaking the work was, and again reminded how it’s not always necessary to look half a world away to find those in different circumstances or situations or livelihoods. I spent a fair share of those scant hours talking to the teenage son of the shrimp boat captain who had been shrimping since he was 9 years old.
Not only are the coastal regions of southern Georgia beautiful, I had no idea how enriched they were with ocean life. Even though I know that lots of interesting creatures and crawlers live under the sea, given its all too often calm surface, it’s easy to forget just how varied and fascinating the findings are once you peek under the water. Hammerhead sharks, eels, horseshoe crabs, blowfish, flounder, crab, hermit crabs, rays and shrimp were just some of the animals that plopped down on the sorting table, all but the shrimp returned to the sea. Dolphins and sea gulls followed the boat playfully, jumping and screeching, respectively.
We talked about working from sunup to sunset to how hard it is to make a living on the sea to the cost of fuel to the dangers of what can lurk in the nets. It was the perfect analogy of life and all of its varied crevices, how nothing is as smooth as it seems or solely black and white, how every decision we make is based on the millions of events in our lives that have occurred up til now. But perhaps most importantly, it was a reminder of how to keep our eyes open to the fact that no matter how something or someone may look, they are always, without exception, more varied, more amazing and more surprising than what you may see at first glance.
So, with that in mind, I try to define a term that has many definitions and uses in a world that’s just as complex. But that’s what’s so exciting, that what I gain from it may differ from what you gain from it, and still at the end of the day, we are all heading towards the same place. Like the sea and our lives, it’s all changing and moving and evolving as time continues, which makes everything all the more delicious indeed.
My definition of Craftivism has been: projects, activities, events or experiences that integrate the practice and display of crafts and social activist messaging and actions in mutually enhancing ways.
What a cool experience (the shrimping)! Also, thanks for the opportunity to comment about craftivism.
Though I’m not much for labels, I kind of like this one because it works so well within the indie-craft movement in general, which seems to rally around a vaue of “independent, but together to act-towards-good stance” regardless of any other external groupings of the participants (e.g., political groupings, religious groupings, demographic groupings, etc.). However, in the recent online discussions mentioned it has been suggested otherwise (e.g., political affiliation does matter). So it would be prudent to call this out for sure.
If it were up to me, I’d vote for inclusion all the way (i.e., political/religious/demigraphic/etc. grouping doesn’t matter — craftivism welcomes anyone that wants to act-for-good). Why? Well, inclusion is itself and act of good and opens us up to:
– Listening to different points of view.
– Learning from each other.
– Honoring independent thinking.
– Negotiation.
– Being the change we want to see in the world.
For example, though craftivist participants might not agree with me about an issue, if participants value inclusion (along with rational, respectful, and non-violent communication), they’d welcome counter opinions; maybe even seek them out. We’d debate, respecting each others points. We might change our minds or emerge from conversation with new information and ideas. Then, we’d share our crafty ideas to bring good into the world and we’d set about supporting each other’s journey. Each of these acts (listening to each other even when we disagree, sharing with each other, helping one another) are all acts of good — just like the act of making-for-good. In my opinion, craftivism should be about how craftivists act towards each other AND crafting-to-act.
Some other values I hold (that might be worthy of the “list”), include: Quality over quantity, authenticity, DIY as a lifestyle rather than a trend, independent thought, mutual respect, sharing, and learning from each other.
i have described it in the past is that it is when one uses a craft to make a social/political statement. It can either be using a traditional craft to do so, or using craft materials in a non traditional way to do so.
this is what I wrote on my blog a while back:
http://jafabrit.blogspot.com/2009/03/craftivism-isnt-just-selling-crafts-is.html
I feel knit graffiti is a form of craftivism in that yarn in being used to make a social statement about how it can be used differently, on the street and not confined to one purpose or gender or age.
Just my humble take on it though
regards Corrine