2023 - Framed in Belarus project

Team Stitchit project, a wonderful craftivist cross stitch protest designed and organised by Rufina Bazlova.  

framedinbelarus.net/ 

I am like a stitching "ambassador" for young political prisoner, Radzivon Kandratsiuk, who was sentenced to 2 years of restricted freedom, due to his participation in a  "dancing event", at which the participants were dispersed by a water cannon.

Here I am, making steady and pleasing progress.

Rufina asked me to write a small statement about my response to the project.

I felt a connection with my cross-stitch hero, as dance has been an arts love of mine for a long time. The fact that Radzivon was given a 2-year sentence for expressing himself through a dance form is a shock to someone who comes from a small democratic country down in the Pacific Ocean.

The project appealed to the craftivist in me. Activism through craft is a passionate love of mine.

In the photo where I am holding up my finished cross-stitch I am wearing my Redress the Past beanie, as I felt it resonated with the ethos of the Team Stitchit project, “Don’t scapegoat someone because they are different.”

Getting it ready to post to Rufina

A connection to the exhibition Rufina organised.