"My mother taught me crochet (several times) until I became proficient as an adult. At first, a vested interest in craft and general ennui lead me to crochet - but then it became an act of resistance and self-expression.
A lot of art and demode crafts have been adopted by minorities as a form of expression outside of the normative zeitgeist, and I noticed a lot of queer people online who crochet.
I have crocheted jockstraps, purses and sculptural forms, and shared my patterns with other queer crocheters to enjoy and help build community.
Connecting with the feminine side of my family (and self) was always regarded with a sense of unease from outside my immediate family, and lead to years of picking apart ideas of masculinity, social performance and self-worth. At times a sense of belonging in myself has been very low, and performative aspects of gender is an enormous burden on queer people generally.
This mantle decoration seems very old and odd and outdated, but was expertly and passionately made by someone, more than likely in their home.
Patterns for small homewares such as this were common from the late Victorian period all the way till the 1970’s, and this piece is a clear signifier of the makers place in a rigid society.
Crochet hasn’t changed since the first printed pattern appeared in 1824, and it feels like a credible way to honour the people who didn’t have a lot of choice in their circumstance and spread joy and fraternity in the queer community."
