There were quite a few protests in the news last week: people marched in Paris after the French government decided to force through pension reforms without a vote in parliament; then there was also a demo in Milan against Italy's new rightwing government to restrict the rights of same-sex parents.
Banners and placards with witty or angry slogans are something essential in protests: mainly made at home using a variety of materials, they are usually colourful so that they can attract the attention of other people and the media. At the end of demos, placards and signs are usually discarded, even though some of us keep them as a memento.
American-born Australian feminist artist Kate Just moves from banners and placards to create her series of hand-knitted protest signs.
Knitting in her practice becomes therefore an engaging sculptural medium with a poetic or political twist. Her knitted canvases mounted on a plywood frame, replicate slogans the artist sees on the news, on social media, online or at live protests.
So far, she has knitted banners about a wide range of social and political issues, going from peace in Ukraine and climate change to feminism, sexual harassment, reproductive freedom, LGBTQIA+ pride and racism.
The hand-made banners offer an added value to the protest signs: according to the artist, they invite a close tactile engagement, but, turning the ephemeral slogans into something more lasting, the artist also transforms them into tangible signs of our times even after a protest is over.
Just mainly works with textiles and for previous installations she knitted figures, skins, tools and armours, but also abstracted forms.
Last year when in June the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she also came up with a sort of wearable protest sign: she developed the "Keep Your Laws Off My Body" green and white sweater and shirt in collaboration with knitwear company Knitup (a full service digital design platform for knitwear designers).
The slogan was inspired by pro-choice protest signs from the late 1960s and the palette came from the "green wave" – a reference to the campaign for safe and legal abortion in Argentina, which was revived in US abortion protests as a means of demonstrating global solidarity around this issue.
Just conceived the wearable garment featuring a text that wraps repeatedly around the front, back and sleeves of the sweater, as a form of political protest and a fundraising tool. Proceeds from the sale go indeed to The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) that works to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access for those that have or need abortions.
There was also a personal story behind the sweater as Just's great grandmother, Lena Michalski, died having a back-alley abortion when the artist's grandmother was just a baby.
Just has exhibited extensively across Australia and internationally at major public galleries and contemporary art spaces and her knitted slogans are currently part of the exhibition "Unravelling Queerly" at the Australian Design Centre in Darlinghurst.
Closing this week (on 22nd March) the event explores practices such as weaving, crocheting, embroidering, quilting and sewing in connection with LGBTQIA+ artists, makers and designers, and the way these processes and soft materials such as yarns and textiles, often connected with a sense of physical or psychological ease, allow them to create safe spaces, while sharing personal narratives and developing a dialogue on contemporary queerness.
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