Gestures of Resistance: The Knitted Mile
In late Feb. I will be installing a site-specific installation in Dallas, TX, as part of the College Art Association's annual conference. My piece is part of an exhibition titled "Gestures of Resistance: Craft, Performance and the Politics of Slow," which also is the title of one of conference's sessions led by Shannon Stratton and Judith Leeman, two curators who work out of Chicago and Boston, respectively. They also are organizing the exhibition and possibly an anthology of the session and exhibition. They have a website called Performing Craft.
My project, The Knitted Mile (working title) is to knit a mile of duplicate road stripe that will be placed over the actual road stripe in Dallas. The knit stripe is done in garter stitch and is four inches wide. I also am using a crocheted chain stitch to create words that are sewn on top of the garter stitch stripe. The words are (or will be) quotations and/or other thoughts about how knitting is a gesture of resistance, particularly in the context of our culture of immediate gratification as embodied or evidenced by Dallas and its car culture.
The gesture of placing a mile of knitting upon the roadways of Dallas is intended to be an intervention, an interruption of the everyday environment created for cars and trucks (all that they imply) with this lovingly made, handmade element. For me, it is as much a poetic gesture as a political one.
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