SMArt Talks: "When a Woman Does It, It's a Craft But When a Man Does It, It's Art": Knitting In Folk Culture, Fashion & Art

13. 3. 2025

Abstract

The most common image of knitting is likely that of a grandmother in a rocking chair, diligently working on a pair of socks. However, throughout the twentieth century – and even prior to that – it encompassed far more functions than simply serving as a domestic and utilitarian practice. Beyond its association with notions of femininity, knitting represented highly valued guilds, played a role in wartime efforts, and ignited fashion crazes in the early 20th century, before being embraced as a form of artistic activism in the 1970s, not to mention today's "craftivism" with projects such as "pussy hats", first used during the Women's March in the United States in 2017. Taking these varied functions and meanings of knitting as a not-so-domestic craft as a starting point, this presentation focuses on a medium that permeated diverse spheres of craft and art production in the 20th and 21st centuries. From the rise of the "sweater craze" in the 1920s to Marianne Jørgensen's Pink M.24 Chaffee Tank project (2006), the presentation traces the evolution of knitting from a popular craft to artistic intervention and questions its identity as a "craft" in line with its heavily gendered and classed associations. Ultimately, it argues that it is precisely knitting's role as a ubiquitous and popular activity that has allowed it to flourish not merely as a productive pastime but as an art form with political potential.