Medals for Everyday Courage

 

During the First lockdown Alinah Azedeh was co-commissioned by Craftspace  and Midlands Arts Centre for our forthcoming national touring exhibition ‘We Are Commoners’ to produce Craft in Common, five workshop films “themed to relate to a human value or experience such as; courage, care, connection, loss and emotional repair” .  The first film Medals Making Medals for Everyday Courage was the basis for a small project to stimulate intergenerational conversations in the LGBTQ+ community that I was asked to lead.  The concept was very simple; help people within this community make medals that celebrate their, or someone they know, courage, and whilst making them talk in groups about themselves and their life experience. Alinah Azadeh describes it as “It’s courageous to:  try new things, reach out for support, feel and share difficult feelings, be strong for others, tell truth to those who you love, find joy in small things and to keep focusing on what you love and have rather than what is lacking.”

I don’t usually run with someone else’s ideas; if I am doing a workshop then I devise it.  However, Medals for Everyday Courage is such a beautifully complete concept and it seemed a logical step on from my #patchoflove project from the Second lockdown. If truth be told I am jealous that I didn’t think it up in the first place! ‘But the whole idea about Commoning is that practice is open source and collaborative; you don’t own the concept or work but pass it on for others to use.

Its been a joy to do.  I thought about the kind of courageous characteristics I might want to celebrate and it rapidly became personal and it was particular events or people that I wanted to make the medals for; sleeping under canvas as an act of protection in lockdown; days in inadequate PPE or days and days in the full blue astronaut gear; getting out of bed in the morning when everything, and I mean everything is going against you.

The Public workshop was lovely, in spite of the charming traffic warden who gave me a ticket for leaving my car for 2 minutes whilst I went to get the gate opened outside the LGBT Centre.  Although there were only 8 of us making because of social distancing measures in the room.  We had great conversations and some beautiful medals made.  They ranged from medals for a 5-year-old daughter to medals for exploring gender identity

 So here are some pictures

 

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[1] https://craftspace.co.uk/craft-in-common/accessed 29/11/21

[2] https://craftspace.co.uk/craft-in-common/accessed 29/11/21

It will never be over for me

When I started dropping the patches back in February the second wave of Covid was howling around the UK.  As an embroider in a global pandemic I thought there was very little I could do to make a difference.  I was inspired by hearing Betsy Greer in conversation with Craftspace’s Deirdre Figueiredo.  It started as an incidental ‘small’ thing to do that I didn’t really expect to go anywhere.

Nearly a 100 patches later and it has easily been a significant and extremely moving episode in my practice.  They have been left in all sorts of places ranging from hospital entrances, bus and tram stops, parks, canal towpaths, graveyards and bridges over motorways.  My criteria were
Am I passing that way anyway?
Might someone need comfort in the spot?

The exception on the drops were the two in separate ITU units where that I managed to get someone else to drop them for me (thanks Nicky and Liz).

Some patches were gone in minutes (Harborne High St and Kniver Edge); Others were days (outside my house, bottom of Third Avenue)

I didn’t expect anyone to contact me, but sometimes they did when they had seen them, often to say ‘Great idea but I don’t need it so I left it’.  I only had one message from a direct recipient who said it had made her day. 

I also did private drops for friends and family; they might have been bereaved, isolated, or going through a hard time.  I did callouts on Instagram to give a patch away with the one rule that they had to give them away in turn, but because no good deed should go unpunished, I would always put an extra one in.  Some people explained in moving detail who the patch was for and sent pictures

This was a very different kind of project for me and it was extremely extremely rewarding.  If you are reading this and are struggling and would appreciate a patch the message me on Instagram.  If I have any left you will be welcome to one

And of course…..

Stay Safe, Stay Strong

#patchoflove

 

The #patchoflove project is a direct, personal response to the third lockdown.  I know that many people are finding things really tough; the weather is bad; the novelty and fear of the first lockdown has well and truly gone; new variants and initial doubts of when any of us would get the jabs (and would they work?) seemed to build anxiety and uncertainty.  I am married to a front line NHS worker who at least three times a week was up on the ITU at the QE Hospital in Birmingham, the busiest ITU in the UK, dressed up like an astronaut, and I can see in real terms the effect that a year of pressure can do to someone.

But I am an embroiderer.  Yes I could do something for the local foodbank or support my elderly neighbour  like another human being (and I do) but I wanted to find a way to use this specialist skill in a positive way.  On the first lockdown I hung a quilt in my front window declaring ‘Stay Safe’. Now many of you will know that I am a recent convert to Northern Soul and before the pandemic had begun to collect the fabric patches associated with the genre; I had begun to make my own and signing off my quilts with a defiant fist holding a pair of scissors with the caption ‘Quilter ‘til I Die’ reminiscent of a Northern Soul patch.

I had begun to play around with a ‘Stay Safe, Stay Strong’ message on one of my patches before I was in the audience for the In conversation between Craftspace’s Deirdre Figueiredo and the legendary Craftivist Betsy Greer.  I was familiar with Craftivism and Betsy’s work but hadn’t really given it considered thought relating to my practice before.  And it was a light bulb moment.  I could make a patch telling people to Stay safe and Stay strong and give them to people who might be struggling in some way

And well that’s what I did.  I had some technical problems as I was embroidering in a way that I hadn’t before but after a couple of trials, I think that’s been sorted.

And so I have begun to leave them in spaces where I think that someone who might appreciate the equivalence of a pat on the back or a socially distanced hug because they are low. Entrances to hospitals and bus stops seem like good starting points.  I know that it’s a small, tiny gesture and I am sure some will think that it’s a waste of my time, but do you know what its makes me feel that I am doing something and its my time to waste.

If you don’t think I am wasting my time please DM me through Twitter or Instagram @karinaworld2

Thanks for reading.  Keep the Faith

X marks the spot

Following the re-wire of 'All the things you are not yet (Cloth of Gold)' I thought it might be useful to know where the new speakers are.  The Parkside Gallery at BCU is a noisy space with a high atrium so it can be tricky to hear the quilt unless you are listening in the right place…..so X marks the spot…or rather spots.

The irony is that the speakers are actually even more inconspicuous than the original ones.  Don’t be scared to touch the quilt…that’s the whole point!