wearing the poem

From early samplers to quilts and even vestments, the combining of language and textile objects is a venerable tradition. A recent article in Broadly, “Mark My Words: The Subversive History of Women Using Thread as Ink,” uses the frame of feminism to illustrate historic and contemporary applications of words to fabric.

Whether the stitching is a way to preserve words, to illustrate them or, like slam poetry, a way to animate them, this visual/verbal art adds new dimension to both fabric and words. Here’s an earlier, related post. And here are a few links to additional examples of artists exploring this hybrid form: Ruth Rae, Georgina Goodman, Cecilia Levy, Cathy Cullis, Tamara Jelača and Kerry Larkin. Okay. That’s enough distraction. Get back to your poem.
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image/artwork © copyright Cecilia Levy