Stitching Resistance: Women, Creativity, and Fiber Arts

by Marjorie Agosín

This book gathers a collection of multidisciplinary essays written by distinguished scholars, visual artists, and writers. The common thread of these essays addresses the ways in which fiber arts have enriched and empowered the lives of women throughout the world. From Ancient Greece to the Holocaust, through to the work of grassroots organizations, these essays illustrate the universality of fiber arts.In each of these chapters, the need of the women to create meaningful works of art shines through. This creative expression allows the artist to transcend the everyday, and sometimes horrific, experiences of life in order to create something beautiful, something that bears witness to the testimony of memory but aspires to a brighter and better future. The threads, the scraps of cloth, the wool, the lace and the stitches come together as manifestations of beauty, resistance, courage, and possibility that embroider the world with both grace and light.

248 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2014

About the author

Marjorie Agosín was born in Maryland and raised in Chile. She and her parents, Moises and Frida Agosín, moved to the United States due to the overthrow of the Chilean government by General Pinochet's military coup. Coming from a South American country and being Jewish, Agosín's writings demonstrate a unique blending of these cultures.

Agosín is well known as a poet, critic, and human activist. She is also a well-known spokesperson for the plight and priorities of women in Third World countries. Her deep social concerns and accomplishments have earned her many awards and recognitions, and she has gained an international reputation among contemporary women of color.

Agosín, a passionate writer, has received critical acclaim for her poetry collections, her close reflections on her parents and family, and her multi-layered stories. Within every novel, story, or poem, she captures the very essence of Jewish women at their best. Agosín's works reveal the experiences of pain and anguish of Jewish refugees. She writes about the Holocaust as well as anti-Semitic events that occurred in her native land.

Agosín has many fascinating works and is recognized in both North and South America as one of the most versatile and provocative Latin American writers. Agosín became a writer to make a difference: "I wanted to change the world through peace and beauty," she said. Today she is not only a writer, but also a Spanish professor at Wellesley College.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edited book is a collection of essays around the theme of women using fiber arts to express resistance to oppression or to create memories of oppressive experiences. Most of the essays are extremely well researched although some are rather narrow in scope. I found particularly interesting the study of the needlework of Violeta Parra, usually better known for her music and poetry. Although the book contains a few illustrations, many of the essays would have been considerably enhanced by the inclusion of more visual examples. Alas, the economics of publishing!

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the May 2015 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...