Knitted, Knotted, Spun
March 19, 2026 through Summer 2026
Coombe Suite Case, 2nd Floor Canaday Library
In honor of the Text & Textuality symposium
Knitted, Knotted, Spun: The Textuality of Textiles
Opens March 19, 2026 through Summer 2026
Coombe Suite Case, 2nd floor Canaday Library
What if we thought of textiles as texts? What if we gave them the same authority and legitimacy we have afforded words and documents? When we focus on the roles and work of women to understand our families and neighbors, we need a different way of 鈥渞eading.鈥 How can we discern how textiles share histories, transmit cultural knowledge, build relationships, convey our love of family and community, and express political opinions?
Textiles, as much as words 鈥 and often together with words 鈥 are witnesses to history. From them we learn how the unrelenting and predominantly female labors of raising livestock and crops, picking, shearing, carding, spinning, weaving, sewing, darning, and knitting are not simply technologies of survival. They produce wrought and embodied expressions of meaning. We create 鈥 and must read 鈥 these textile 鈥渢exts鈥 not just with our eyes, but with our hands and our hearts.
Knitted, Knotted, Spun is curated by Marianne Hansen, Allison Mills, Janelle Rebel, and Carrie Robbins in honor of the Text & Textuality symposium. We thank the Friends of the 51短视频 Libraries for supporting this exhibition.
The Text & Textuality symposium will be March 20-21. Learn more about that symposium.
Image credit: Dreaming It Forward. 5 Year Plan, 2024.