Knitting During Wartime
“The Muster” in 2005, funded by the Public Art Fund, was created by artist Allison Smith, as “a call to arms for art”, and was inspired by Civil War reenactments and the crisis of wartime. It was the perfect platform to launch KNITTING NATION PHASE 1: Knitting During Wartime. The context inspired me to explore the history of knitting in the United States around times of war; the timing of the project prompted the aesthetic theme of the performance, which centered around the production of an American flag. I wanted people to think about the American flag and to see it defaced on the ground, walked on, as a way to express my pain surrounding the contemporaneous war in Iraq and to consider the ramifications and meaning of patriotism gone awry. Exposing the labor of how fabric is made was important to me in reflecting on the human labor inherent to the functioning of the military-industrial complex. The production of this performance was also a metaphor for me for the importance of hand-craft as a means of action on a personal level during times of emotional stress. I created a noisy, rhythmic, mesmerizing dance of humans interacting with knitting machines, all under a tent made of white lace stockings and natural silk yarn, which infused the scene with traces of nostalgia and antiquity.