Last Friday was International Women's Day*, marked in the UK and around the globe with celebrations and acts of resistance.
Source "Between the Two My Heart is Balanced" Lubaina Himid, 1991
The Tate Gallery UK is teaming up with the National Museum of Women in the Arts during March as they champion women artists across the globe. The Tate has announced five major exhibitions by women artists in 2020-2021 and put together a virtual exhibition celebrating Women and Art.
60 Years, a new curated display, will tell the story of British art from 1960 through women artists, and is part of Tate’s ongoing commitment to increasing the representation of women artists across its galleries.
Source Hannah Hill and Kate Rolison talk about embroidery and mental health.
The Tate virtual exhibition includes a personality quiz where you can find out which pioneering woman artist will inspire you today. My inspiration was Claude Cahun, an artist I hadn't come across before.
Source "I Extend My Arms" Claude Cahun, 1931 or 1932
Recently, I discovered Sonya Philip and her website 100 Acts of Sewing which includes a statement about what she is (we are) doing when we sew our own clothes. Sonya writes:
What began as a personal challenge to make 100 dresses in a year, has developed into a larger exploration ... to also expose the process. ... This exposure acts as an impetus, allowing people to recognize that they can sew clothes, an awareness that simultaneously creates conscious consumers, offers a connection to the past, and provides a means of reclaiming personal style.
All aspects of creating clothing require skill ... these are skills our society has largely lost or pushed offshore ... We do not see nor often think of the real cost our clothing consumption has for the laborers or the environment. When we know how to sew with our own hands, we can make and remake and make well. ... When we possess this skill, when we realize the time and physical labor that goes into making a garment from start-to-finish, we are more thoughtful about what we purchase, ... and we are ultimately less driven by the forces of consumption and accumulation.
Making clothing is a conscious choice; it is an investment of time over convenience. The creation of a functional garment, engenders self-sufficiency and happiness. ... it is the work itself, and the recognition of flaws and gradual achievement of better skills as part of that work, that produces satisfaction. It is traditionally a woman's craft and is associated with the domestic sphere. The practice is a continuation of a millennium’s-long lineage, one that creates an interdependence between seasoned practitioners and new enthusiasts, with room for celebrating each act of making from simple to complex.
Clothing is an elemental part of day-to-day life ... It is also bound up with ideas of culture and the body. Alternately encouraged by and excoriated by the media, women in the US forge a deep discontent with their bodies that leads many on a constant search for clothes that alter appearance. ... Sewing is a way to return to a more primary mode of expression, which a person can choose to follow or create their own style. ... Handmade has an authenticity, where each choice is deliberate, from how cloth is cut to the color of thread.
Sewing clothes creates value through the appreciation of skill, the awareness of tradition, and the creation of agency.
For me, #needleworkmonday brings together a connectedness with art and creativity, skill and learning, accepting our frailty, flaws and uniqueness and understanding our relationship with women, society, politics and ecology. Thank you to the women and men who join us every Monday with your posts and comments, and to 
Enjoy!