Why I use embroidery in my work?

Work for level 5 module `Two Ladies` in cross stitch embroidery (Above) Level 4 work - `Nude Female` -  Printed textile overlaid with free motion machine embroidery

By using traditional embroidery techniques, I can creatively express new ideas and concepts without kowtowing to cultural stereotypes.  The recent resurgence of craft-making activity, particularly domestic crafts such as knitting and sewing, seems to be a disengagement from our increasing reliance on digital technology and burgeoning consumer culture. In post 9/11 America there was a huge upsurge of craft making activities, which represented the need for communities to draw closer together, in my research for my final degree essay, in which I explored the relationship between craft and activism, I discovered that this has had some notable historical precursors.  The Womens Suffrage Movement, whose members were talented artists, used their skills to produce beautiful embroidered banners, realising that in an all seeing age, their protests and marches would have greater visual impact.  Their artistic endeavours were inspired by the arts and crafts movement, which in itself was a reaction to industrialisation  In my exploration of magazines, I quickly realised that those magazines which inspire craft-making and leisure activities also subscribe to a culture of mass consumption of ready-made products through their blatant use of advertising.  The visual images of these magazines have an immediacy and will change in response to the needs of its consumers, whereas my intervention, which is rooted in tradition and history, creates a sense of making something from start to finish by manual labour and attempts to disrupt that process.