Crochet as an Allegory

Spring 2022

Conceptual

I have created a series of photographic installations that are inspired by the work of feminist and queer thinkers. I draw parallels between the manipulation of a weaved material through crochet and the way feminists work to continually create change. I find that the physicality, patience, detail, and repetition that comes with crocheting yarn or creating a photo mimics the ways in which activists, and more specifically feminists, have worked to combat the oppression and intersectional oppressions they face. String theory, potentially a theory of everything, proposes that in the quantum realm, stings, or loops, are the foundation of all matter in the universe. Similarly, in my work, the string is the foundation of progress. The act of crocheting symbolizes the work of feminists, and the completed crocheted object represents the progress made in the fight up until this point.

I’ve created a vertical panorama by taking multiple images and photo-merging them in Photoshop. I use various tools to target certain areas within the image to edit the hue and saturation. This series is iterative - like crochet. I use the first iteration of prints as a disorienting subject matter by including them in later photos I take. The final images include selections of objects from earlier images collaged into the already stitched and color-altered panorama. I took inspiration from Annette Massager and Sheree Hovespian to create iterations of spirited and feminized images with domestic materials as the subject matter.