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foragerknits · 11 months ago

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The Queer Politics of Craftivism: Crafting Trans Joy Through Quilting

Right photo by @transjoyquilt, left by @poppythewitch (posted to @transjoyquilt) on IG

This essay was presented by me at a Queer conference at my University, and discusses queer craftivism in a historical context and contemporary one through the work of the Nortfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt. As a fiber artist, getting to talk with my professors and peers about craftivism was a big honor. It also couldn't be done without the publisher of The Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine, Common Threads Press. Living in the US and on a time crunch they sent me a digital copy. All references are at the end of the essay, which I absolutely recommend reading, but I'd totally be willing to post other great resources that didn't make it into the final draft but are great works on queer craftivism.

The Queer Politics of Craftivism: Crafting Trans Joy Through Quilting

“Craftivism,” a term popularized by activist and writer Betsy Greer, is the intersection of “crafting” and “activism.” Trans and queer activists have adopted the term to craft materials to express queer joy and resilient community in the face of abandonment and oppression by the state. Craftivism, while certainly involving anger, centers joy and love for the self and community. One of the most famous queer craftivist projects is the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt created in 1987 which memorialized thousands of people who died from AIDS and offered a way for the queer community to mourn. In this paper, I want to look at the Norfolk Trans Joy Community quilt to offer a more recent example of craftism that continues the political legacy of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Norfolk Trans Joy Community quilt was created earlier this year by trans people and allies in Norwich, England to offer trans people community and to highlight trans joy in a society that is continually working to criminalize the trans body.

Craftivism has existed long before Betsy Greer popularized the name, and its influence reaches outside of queer circles, however one of the most notable works of craftivism is the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. The government response to the AIDS crisis early in the epidemic was incredibly flawed and lacking with Ronald Reagan’s administration staying almost completely silent on AIDS until 1987 their only comments minimizing the scope of the epidemic on the queer community (Oritz 85). Reagan’s administration abandoned queer people to fend for themselves during the AIDS epidemic, needlessly allowing for thousands of people to die. The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, created in 1987, was crafted in protest to the government’s abandonment of queer people and to mourn as a community. The quilt initially consisted of 1,920 squares, each memorializing a person who died of AIDS, made by themselves or those who loved them (“The History of the Quilt”). Cleve Jones, the man who conceived the quilt, hoped that it would serve as a communal form of healing in dealing with the great loss the community was feeling, but also to publicly shame the government for their apathy and failure towards the queer community (“AIDS Memorial Quilt”). People combined their anger towards the governent and love and sadness towards losing someone close to them and channeled it into a quilt showcasing their emotions. Scholar Daniel Fountain writes in their essay “‘Queer Quilts’: A Patchworked History,” “Although the blocks can be exhibited independently of one another, the idea is that each panel – each life– would never be isolated or alone, even in death” (qtd in “The Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine” 7). The AIDS quilt simultaneously allowed queer people to come together as a community and mourn those they had lost, while also spotlighting the fact that the government did not acknowledge the scope of the epidemic.

The conventional definition of “crafting” is gendered as one that is feminine and therefore “lower.” Art forms of knitting, embroidery, quilting, etc., come to mind over the more “masculine” and therefore more legitimate mediums of writing, painting, etc,. Associations with craft and queerness are tied, that they’re both too feminine and not as legitimate than their more recognized counterparts. Artist Ben Cuevas writes of their personal connection to the link of crafting and queerness stating, “by knitting with my male body, and referencing that in my work, I’m queering gendered constructs of craft,” (qtd in Chaich & Oldham 137). Queer people recognize the connection between the connotations of queerness and craft, and use it to materially render queer and trans experiences, including expressing joy and love for their community.

Crafting, specifically quilting, is used to express queer joy due to the symbolic nature of quilts, and what the gift of a quilt means. The gift of a quilt tells someone that they love and care for them, that in a literal sense you never want them to be cold and alone. Quilting teacher and writer Thomas Knauer in his essay “The Gift of a Quilt is an Act of Love” writes of the symbolism present in giving quilts, “warmth — once a literal protection against the elements — is also a symbolic means of protection, and our desire to protect is a reflection of the love we feel for another.” People make quilts to express love. Furthermore, the gift of a quilt involves incredible amounts of patience and care. Quilts are not really practical as people in modern life have access to cheaper ready-made blankets, yet people spend weeks and months picking out fabric, and cutting and sewing them for another person to show their love. The Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt does this for an entire community of people. Individual squares are sewn together to become an entire quilt of trans people expressing their love for themselves and their community, that they do not want themselves or any trans person to be without joy or community.

Queer craftivism subverts the idea of quilting as a symbol of cis-heteronormativity, instead making it a symbol of community. In their essay “‘Queer Quilts’: A Patchworked History,” Daniel Fountain writes of gendered associations of quilts, saying, “quilts are still largely associated with milestones in cis-heteronormative culture – birth, marriage, and death – and they are typically passed down through generations of biological family members, usually through matrilineality.” (Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine 6). However in queer crafting, instead of marriage and family as the sole climactic moment in a person’s life worthy of a quilt, it is the moment in which a person expresses joy in being trans and queer that is worthy of a quilt. Community becomes family, which is important when many trans folks are shunned by their families and the matrilineal line is broken or strained.

Trans joy is important now more than ever in a world that is increasingly criminalizing the trans body. The media has increasingly portrayed trans people as predators and dangerous, with CPAC speaker Michael Knowles stating earlier this year that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” (qtd in Wade & Reis). Despite the onslaught of cruelty thrown at trans people, craftivism is used a means to express joy and challenge the narratives against them. K, who created a square for the community quilt and was interviewed about it said, “As much as I want to express my anger, trans joy is defiant. It can’t be legislated out of existence, defanged or sold. It doesn’t have one look and it contradicts itself. Its complexity is powerful, trans joy is a protest in itself” (Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine 21). Anger is not absent in craftivism, as it is a response to injustice and abandonment of marginalized groups which rightfully sparks outrage, yet joy is present in them as well, which is an important mode of protest against oppression. In other words, joy and anger are not mutually exclusive categories.

Even when not being portrayed as dangerous, mainstream trans narratives are often filled with the trauma associated with being trans such as the violence inflicted on them, suicide, and survival sex work to name a few. While these are all real issues affecting the trans community, hyperfocusing on these issues in the media creates a false narrative that trans people are joyless, which the Trans Community Quilt hopes to reject. Alex, another person who contributed to the quilt and was interviewed said, “It helps to combat the tragedy of trans lives in lots of mainstream media, even in sympathetic cases.” (The Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine 18). Instead of fetishizing trans folks through the lens of traumatic tragedy, the quilt highlights the joy in being transgender. K’s square features a pun which says “Orange you glad trans people exist?” Another square made by a person named Josh is an embroidered rendering of Josh’s chest nine months post top surgery. The quilt rejects the narrative that trans people are dangerous and tragic, but rather spotlighting the joy for self and community in being transgender. The focus on joy is not at the expense of histories of pain or struggle.

The creation of the Trans Community quilt was largely community focused, with recurring workshops for queer community members to gather and create. Workshops included free materials and instruction for creating the squares in addition to providing a safe community space for community members. Therefore the quilt was truly made by the trans community of Norwich, and even after its creation the quilt will go on to be exhibited at various queer and trans events across England. The conceptors Beau Brannick and Alice Bigsby-Bye write, “The project aims to return ownership of queer collections to their communities and empower people to access, discover, and contribute to the objects that reflect their shared histories” (5). The quilt is also therefore owned by the queer and trans community in addition to being made by and for the community.

Craftivism has existed for a long time, with a notable queer example being the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and these kinds of projects have gone onto inspire others such as the Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt. The Trans Joy Quilt centers trans joy and community rather than suffering. This research as well as the work being done by queer and trans craftivists is important because activism that centers joy and resilient community is needed more than ever in a society that is working to criminalize the trans body.

Works Cited

“AIDS Memorial Quilt,” Williams College Museum of Art, March 17, 2019, https://artmuseum.williams.edu/aids-memorial-quilt/

Chaich, John & Oldham, Todd, Queer Threads: Crafting Identity & Community, AMMO Books, 2017.

Knauer, Thomas. “The Gift of a Quilt is an Act of Love,” Hachette Book Group, https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/storey/gift-quilt-act-love/#:~:text=the%20room%20symbolically.-,The%20gift%20of%20a%20quilt%20is%20an%20act%20of%20love,those%20they%20are%20given%20to

“The History of the Quilt,” National AIDS Memorial, https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history

The Norfolk Trans Joy Community Quilt Zine, Common Threads Press, 2023.

Ortiz, Jacqueline A. (2023) "Silence From the Great Communicator: The Early Years of the AIDS Epidemic Under the Reagan Administration," Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal: 4 (2), 76-99. https://works.swarthmore.edu/suhj/vol4/iss2/6

Wade, Peter & Reis, Patrick. “CPAC Speaker Calls for Eradication of ‘Transgenderism’ — and Somehow Claims He’s Not Calling for Elimination of Transgender People.” Rolling Stone, March 6, 2023, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/cpac-speaker-transgender-people-eradicated-1234690924/

#quilting #craftivism #queer community #queer crafts #craftblr #queer history #trans #trans joy #aidsquilt

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