Textile Craft as Empowerment: Shared research and craft activities around textiles in museums

Anne-Louise Bang, Gitte Engholm, Susanne Lervad, Marie Louise Bech Nosch, Else Skjold

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Abstract

Focusing on museums, this article illustrates how textile crafts can become a source for scholarly inquiry and can enhance more inclusive practices at museums. The empirical data comprises four museum-related projects conducted since 2017 focusing on textile craft and creativity with women in Denmark, particularly women of refugee, migrant, or second-generation migrant background. Through these cases, we unravel the potential of textile crafts as a medium and encounter for engagement in museums within a societal context, both as a professional outlook, an education, a cultural heritage, an object of research, and a pastime for pleasure and socializing. The common thread—our academic quest—is how, when, and why textile craft is entwined with female empowerment, and how textile craft, as a shared community action, can empower and represent an opportunity for museums to reach new audiences as well as use the museum space in new ways.
Original languageEnglish
JournalDress. The Journal of the Costume Society of America
Volume50
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)151-173
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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