It is not easy to begin writing and so I begin by writing about my unease. Let me just say that this is not a critique of the well-meaning folks on all sides in the skirmish mentioned herein. It is a critique of the communities in which I participate and a wish for change.
On this day when we honor a man who helped lead a movement for civil rights, it is important to re-read his words and even listen to the cadence of his voice and wonder whether we’ll ever find leaders like this again. We have made great progress in many respects in the US, but there are still hundreds of miles to go before we can rest.
For as long as I can remember, I have been taught to understand that everything I say and every action I make is political. I recall that when I was six, my parents constantly emphasized that my success or failure–in academics, in music, even in hobbies–reflected on them as parents and could impact future opportunities for other girls and other minorities. No pressure there. Of course, all of this is still a big driving force in the way I live, especially since I am still achieving a bunch of age, gender and ethnicity “firsts” in my profession. Since we are now a decade deep into the 21st century these “firsts” ought to be considered shameful; and greater shame should be seen in the fact that there is no apparent “second” teed-up to succeed me.
I do what I can to take the lead in effecting change in my profession on behalf of women and minorities, although the prevailing pace is glacial. My energies now are devoted to fostering a community of allies and then turning them into advocates, which is a disheartening endeavor at best. In these interactions, every word counts and every action is political. It is my goal to get these folks to begin to back up their words of support with actually doing something.
So why do I bring this up on a blog heretofore devoted to a celebration of textile arts?
I have a dream that one day I’ll have the privilege to muster up the energy to care much about a minor skirmish like this one. Is it an issue that matters? Maybe. Am I glad that someone will expose the issue? I guess. But it comes nowhere near the point of addressing the real situation.
My basic response to the overall issue: this isn’t a new issue. Demands for diverse representation in the media have been on-going for decades and after years of offensive stereotyping and type-casting in movies and on tv we can now see a few roles for women and minorities (young and old) that are endowed with dignity and respect. And there is still a long way to go in this arena. Sure, fabric designers are behind the times, however HR should make the designs she wants to make; she is a single independent designer and is not beholden to audiences beyond her paying customer base. She made clear in her comments that this is her choice, however myopic it might be. Perhaps one day she’ll decide to make her designs more diverse in representation and maybe this current confrontation will have had some influence.
But this issue is shallow and it is all talk.
It is important to ask Ashley, Pam and the behind-the-scenes emailers: “what is your next step?” The blog post while well-reasoned rings hollow. Is the interest in changing a community or just in pointing out that one designer failed to meet expectations? When I first heard of the emailed confrontations of the designer I mistakenly assumed that the intent had depth. The continuation via HR’s response and this public post are disappointing. If one really wants change to occur, one needs to take action rather than revel in revealing one designer’s ignorance.
Meanwhile, I must concern myself with The Real Situation: the textile arts community–locally and globally–is unwelcoming to participation from the young and the nonwhite. For instance, I am almost always uncomfortable in local yarn/fabric shops unless I bring a white friend who will vouch for me. Another example would be in the label “African American quilt.” Because my quilts aren’t riots of animal prints that cry out activist screeds, they don’t fit under this label. So on the personal level, I must contend with those who don’t think brown folks sew [and therefore must only be in a quilt shop to steal stuff] while also defying the expectations of those who sweetly recognize our presence but hamfistedly categorize us. My participation is currently limited because I can only fight battles on one front at a time and I choose to help my students and colleagues with my current free time.
Will this situation be changed by the act of diversifying human representation on fabrics? No. Very few of the fabrics I want to use have any human representation on them. But I can’t say that inciting such a change in a careful and productive manner couldn’t result in a small positive impact on The Real Situation.
So… Is someone going to act? Will someone be communicating with other designers about the issue? How about with fabric manufacturers? Beyond that, is someone going to try to do something about The Real Situation?
So, so well said. I’m a coward and couldn’t bring myself to get into that particular minor skirmish (although I suppose I’m slightly doing so now!), but the attention being paid to a particular designer over the Real Situation drove me nuts – and you’re so right, smacks of the very sort of privilege being complained about.
The Real Situation, I fear, will never be resolved in our lifetime. There will never be fair representation of any minority in the Arts, or any other ‘middle class’ owned area of society. But we do what we love and we enjoy it. I often think the women of Gees Bend are almost paraded like circus acts. It reminds me of photos of dressed up ‘natives’ back in Victorian England.
Your Country, in particular, has come so far in so few years. We’ve got a long way to go, but our children’s children’s children will hopefully see a far more representative World than our grandparents did. If we educate them, then we can start the ball rolling, surely?
As you and I emailed earlier, before Ashley’s blog post, a face-to-face sit down about this question is what’s really merited (though really? i just want to hang out)- about my thoughts and yours. That said, I’ll try to articulate some answer to what you’ve said above, and hope you’ll forgive and point out any blind spots I’m showing.
I don’t believe that this “minor skirmish” is meaningless or hollow at all. It is my hope that loudmouth craftsers on the Internet CAN get the attention of designers and manufacturers and thoughtful folks throughout the crafting community. And I think that talk can stir positive action. Doesn’t there need to be a starting point?
Ms. Ross is just one designer- but she’s a designer who stepped up to answer the question, and therefore she opened the door. She has a blog and is a public persona. I can’t name one person at Kokka, or Free Spirit, or Westminster, but I’d be willing to bet word of this conversation is out, given the number of threads on crafting sites that have sprung up about it.
You say, “When I first heard of the emailed confrontations of the designer I mistakenly assumed that the intent had depth. The continuation via HR’s response and this public post are disappointing. If one really wants change to occur, one needs to take action rather than revel in revealing one designer’s ignorance. ” I have to take issue with this, as the person who (maybe?) was the one who “first” pointed out the emails. Why do you assume my intent has no depth? I’ve been continually involved in this conversation ever since it started. I’m fully committed to taking a next step, and it has absolutely nothing to do (at least on my part) in simply or meanly reveling in revealing one designer’s ignorance. I commented on the blog post, using links, about broadening the conversation to include a look at human bodies on textiles in general- I hope this conversation continues and I certainly expect that it will reach the ears of the larger manufacturers.
You ask what the next step might be. What do you think it is? Whether you’re on board with the inception of this conversation, you’re continuing it here, and I think that the spread of it can result in change.
Respectfully, your friend,
Julie
Being politically correct (and yelling about it) is practically cost free, yet people wear it like an expensive garment.
Thank you for making me aware of the HR controversy, I hadn’t heard about it even though I am a big fan of her gnomes, buses and octopi.
The question whether all art should be instrumental, in the way that it should reflect the right values at all times and in all situation, is a huge one, which is on at a daily basis in my workplace. It is not a simple question, and I think there is not one right answer to it. I do, however, believe that the artist is in some way responsible for the messages that she or he brings across in their work, intentionally or unintentionally.
I am shocked to read about your experiences in craft shops etc.
Beautifully said, C. I’m glad that this dialogue has started and that there are people with feet on the ground to makes changes and inspire next generations to do the same, as your work does.
Thank you for this post, C.
Thanks for posting this, C. Well said, as always.
Thank you for sharing this, C. It’s powerful, and wise, and gave me a lot to think about. I know it wasn’t easy to write, and I appreciate your taking the time and energy to write it.
Well stated and I agree, we all need to back up our words with action. I’m still trying to figure out what my action should be but I thank you for writing words that inspire me to think about taking action because that is the first step.
Hey C, so first of all I want to say that I am really happy that this convo is (hopefully) going to continue on other blogs than Pam’s; that was a big part of our goal when writing. So, yay.
I also wanted to talk a little bit about where I’m personally coming from w/r/t The Real Situation, as you put it, which is that, as an academic/literary critic, I work always from the assumption that representation has meaning–I do close reading; I look at the tiny picture, in a variety of different kinds of texts, to try to get at something about the big one. So for me, the discussion of this particular print is intimately related to what you’re talking about: there’s a circular relationship between HR (and, yes, definitely, other designers/manufacturers) believing that diverse representations is a non-issue and those ladies in quilt stores who follow you around, because black people don’t quilt, right, unless they’re using zebra print? So I agree, absolutely, that what we’re tackling here is a surface issue. But I think maybe my mistake in that post is not articulating how, for me, what’s on the surface connects to deep roots that are really, really difficult to pull out.
I also genuinely stand by the idea that sometimes to get people thinking you have to point at things that are on the surface; that is, since I don’t have your lived experience of race, in some ways I have the luxury of using my privilege to have conversations that, as you say, you don’t have the time or emotional energy to have, because you get used up by dealing with the deeper issues in your day-to-day professional life. For me, this was an important post to make because I saw a moment where my professional life, where I do a lot of thinking/talking about representations of race, could intersect with what I love to do in my spare time, which is talk about craft supplies. So when whitknits, above, talks of this convo “smack[ing] of privilege” I would say, yeah, probably it does. But for me, one of the most important uses I can make of my own privilege is to talk about privilege in general, in the hopes that those coversations will start people thinking about The Real Situation.
Ashley, your point about using your privilege to talk about privilege makes a lot of sense to me – and I think I would have had a different reaction to your post over on Pam’s blog if there had been more of an acknowledgement of that and of the connection to the deeper roots and problems. Happy to see it here, though!
I’m still slightly uncomfortable with the idea of making demands of individual artists, even though I know they’re part of the puzzle – I just can’t get upset about what HR doesn’t draw, when there’s an entire industry (and hell, it goes WAY beyond the crafting industry!) centered on the idea that the white experience is normal/universal/etc and everything else belongs in some kind of niche market. Maybe starting with privilege as illustrated by HR makes sense, I don’t know – it just strikes me as a mere symptom of something much larger.
Oh, and just in case it wasn’t clear, we posted the post when we did because it was ready and because it was timely. I personally now wish we had done it any other weekend than the one leading into MLK day, since I worry that we are being misread as deliberately connecting the two; this was definitely not our intention at all.
Thank you for your honesty.
Thanks for a really thoughtful post, I am so appreciating the conversation here and elsewhere. I guess I’m enough of a 90s Lit-Crit grad student to still believe that having these types of discussions is, in fact, doing something toward drawing attention to the blind spots that dog us all.
Thanks for engaging w/ this, C! One thing I love about Ashley’s post is that her beef is not with the print. It’s with Heather Ross’s response to the critiques of the print. And I think there’s a meaningful connection between (1) the white-normativity and racial exclusions of dominant crafting communities, cultures, and markets (which I think is a big part of what you’re calling the “Real Situation?”), and (2) the fact that Heather Ross doesn’t have to take this particular critique seriously b/c of the assumption that the market/community doesn’t demand it (i.e. the notion that black and brown people don’t sew).
I was super excited to see someone involved in sci-fi/fantasy fandom comment on Ashley’s post. Online feminist sci-fi/fantasy communities are a really great model for what can happen when folks start to hold individual artists/authors accountable for their representational practices, AND for how they respond to critiques of their representational practices. In the last two years, there’s been a huge, awesome discussion about race and racism in science fiction and fantasy books and culture (see “RaceFail 09″). The results are pretty impressive. Not only have lots of fans started thinking and talking about race and privilege in new ways, but savvy white sci-fi/fantasy authors can’t write a book now without considering their representational practices w/r/t race. If they do, they’re going to get called out on it. And that conversation has also shifted the terms within which women of color bloggers, authors, and critics can participate in a typically white-normative, racially exclusive community. It kind of rules.
I think there are lots of parallels, and also some meaningful differences, between this example and textile/crafty communities. One excellent thing that’s happened because of RaceFail 09 is an extended discussion, in multiple sites, on multiple levels, about race, power, and privilege in a particular art/hobby/consumer culture that has historically been (again) white normative and racially exclusive, in spite of the fact that lots of people of color create, buy, and love its stuff. As the commenter, Maren, pointed out on my blog, those conversations are not happening to any substantial degree within crafty online communities. One result of that silence is that every isolated post or statement takes on the expectation that it will identify, and offer some clear practical solution to, “the real situation,” as if a complicated matrix of multiple and overlapping systems of power and privilege can be summed up in a single blog post, or “fixed” by an individual on the internet. What you see, instead, in the RaceFail discussion, is bloggers and commenters engaging the problem at multiple levels (from individual books or authors, to broader literary conventions, to the cultural and economic and political structures that support them). Which is why it’s super awesome that this conversation has extended beyond Ashley’s post and my blog. Thanks, C!
C – I’m echoing what so many folks have already said, but your post is extremely eloquent and well reasoned, so thank you so much for sharing. I think you are right to point out that there is still a great deal of inequity – whether it be visual, unspoken, or even unperceived by those of us who have led lives where it just wasn’t something WE had to deal with.
Indubitably it is a hard fight to fight – because at this stage, as you allude to, it can appear quite subtle to a person who may not share your experience. That said, I truly believe that conversations like this one (and in particular you sharing your own personal experiences) help illuminate our collective “needs improvement” list, which I sincerely hope will provoke many of us to not just expect real change, but demand it in every aspect of our lives.
Very nicely written post, C. I too am glad to see this conversation continuing in multiple places. I am also unhappy to learn that you are made to feel uncomfortable in quilt & yarn stores (truly what should be the happiest place on earth!) due to your skin color. Living in what (I think and hope) is a more progressive area of the country, I forget that this kind of racism is still a huge problem in many areas (and maybe it is here too and I just don’t see it because I don’t live in a very diverse area or notice it which would be even more horrifying).
So let me put on my as-an-artist hat here and say I can completely related to Heather Ross’ comments of making what she wants to make. There is something to be said for staying true to artistic vision. HOWEVER I do think it’s not as cut and dry when it comes to a commercial endeavor. What she designs sells ergo she is popular for her designs. I do think that people who find themselves in positions of influence need to wield it with an eye always on the bigger picture or The Real Situation.
Brown girls with black hair aren’t part of the Heather Ross Experience? Fine. She doesn’t want to draw outside that because it it makes her think of her drudgey past? Great. Maybe it’s simplistic or naive on my part but she could use her influence to tap a designer who’s experience it does reflect. I know, I know that is a slippery slope with all the branding nonsense. But really (opening a can of worms here) we as consumers are squarely guilty of vaunting these designers with their single-world view experience.
In writing the above I was suddenly struck how if Heather Ross asked another designer to make a fabric line, say the Black Haired Brown Girl playing with ponies line, then that would dilute the Heather Ross brand. Dilute? In vaunting these individual fabric designers through capitalism, brand can stand in for race. Call for miscegenation, but the market forces ($$$) wants purity. They (the nameless they) want pure Heather Ross and all that she stands for.
I guess I’m making an attempt at a Marxist critique here. It is the system. And it’s us. Julie, like many of us, might not be able to name one person at other fabric companies. Those companies, I’m hazarding to guess have a stable of designers. So because Heather Ross stands on her own, because she’s reached that individual branded fame that seems to be the ideal in our society (Martha, Rachel, Oprah) should she have to use her powers for good?
Well-expressed C. Your post is very insightful and convicting. And MLK, Jr’s message is always fresh and timely, no matter how many decades have passed since he delivered it.
People of color and the under-privileged aren’t the only humans under-represented in the craft world and I’m a little uncomfortable with forcing hardworking designers like HR to change their personal aesthetic in order to try to solve all the injustices in the world. Sure, I’d love a sea change in the worldview of craft designers and artists, but realistically, I know I can do more to incite change in my own small circle of friends and family than I could ever do by boycotting somebody whose work I’ve never purchased.
Hi there,
I’ve been reading your blog for a long time now and am completely in awe of your crafting and photography thereof. (Someday I, Too, will be able to Make Things!) I’ve been thinking of ending my lurking to let you know how much I admire your dedication and skill, and now seems as good a time as any. This post has a lot to think about, and I’m glad to have read it. Thank you.
Regards,
Stephanie
Thanks so much for your post! You are able to articulate how I feel about this issue in a way that I will never be able to- so thank you!
as an african-american mother (a mother who is a stay at home mother as well) who has interests in cooking, crafting, and gardening-I often feel greatly isolated. thanks for posting this.
Beautifully put.
Thank you for posting such an eloquent response to this situation. I think maybe sometimes we all get really fired up about things we feel strongly about, but then need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I too am horrified at your experience in yarn and craft shops! Bertha is right, they should be the happiest places on earth and fuck whoever made you feel unwelcome or uncomfortable!
Human representation in fabric doesn’t especially appeal to me either, its just not the kind of fabric I like to use, and since I’ve never bought any Heather Ross fabric it would be kind of silly for me to proclaim a boycott. I do feel that this particular “skirmish” as you called it is just a pinprick in the entirety of The Real Situation, but change has to start somewhere right? Thanks again for posting this!
Thanks for posting so eloquently & giving me much to think about.
It chaps my ass to think that you’re made to feel less welcome in fabric/yarn shops. You’d think we’d be further along by now but apparently not.
As I posted over at Pam’s blog, this hits home for me as a parent. I hate that I can’t find more “stuff” that shows my children and their experiences. But I am also greatly aware of the Real Situation. I love in it everyday and feel its affects. Little brown girls on fabric (or art prints, or mirrors or t-shirts…) is seriously the least of my problems, but it IS a problem. I wish that there were more black (I never refer to myself as African-American) bloggers being offered book deals and fabric lines, etc. But, I also know that as a creative black person, our worth and skill is too often measured by how we use it to uplift our race. Sometimes, I just want to knit. I know what it’s like to feel uncomfortable at Purl Soho, to feel like I can’t browse in stores without being watched. I am too often met with shock when people find out that I sew, knit, craft and then more shock that I make “regular” stuff. I wish I knew how to change this perception. I wish I didn’t have to worry about preparing my children for this type of treatment. What can we do, C?
I am glad that this discussion is continuing. I have to say that my reaction to things such as this boil down to my wallet, so if I can be said to be fighting the good fight at all, I am doing so in a fiscally prudent way. If I can’t relate to, or don’t like, a print (or anything else for that matter), I just don’t buy it.
And, another thing: my friend, check your discomfort at the door (of the yarn/quilt shopt). You are a freaking craft genius and your money is as good as anyone else’s (in my esteemed opinion, I think it might be better because I know that you will create somthing mind-blowingly awesome and what vendor would not want to assist in said explosive venture?). I have, on more than one occasion, left a quilt shop because of the (mis)treatment, received. And usually, when I leave I remark that their business must be thriving if they can be so particular about the appearance of their customers. It’s a shame, really, because you and I know what a greedy little hoarder I am.
What an interesting post to read! It’s shameful, that at this point in time, there is still unease, even with little things, around. Hard to comprehend.
I think if we all tried to apply the Golden Rule to how we live our lives on a daily basis the world would be so much better.
Thanks for making me think, Doc K.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention – I had no idea of the controversy! I love the Gnomes print, but most of HR’s stuff is too twee for me. I’ve spent the last hour reading Ashley’s post, all the comments to that post, and then your post and the comments. WHEW.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I can’t imagine what it’s like to deal with that everyday, I simply can’t. Know that these eyes have been opened wider, and how much that’s appreciated.
All I can say is – Thank you! Someone sent me a link to your blog (because I had just written about the same subject) and I wish my entry could have had the same eloquence and beauty as yours does. I share your dream and I hope we can all put our heads together to fix The Real Situation.
May I just say as a potential fabric store owner (we’ve been trying to open since last October!) that the only color I care about in regards to people coming into my shop is GAH-REEN. You and anyone else coming in are not only welcome, but needed for our survival and I’m sorry to hear you’ve experienced anything else.
On another note, I’m 43, whiter than Nicole Kidman, carry authentic, all leather Coach handbags and I’m STILL followed around Best Buy, Target and CVS and it ain’t because I’m workin’ my mom jeans!
It is never fun to be ignored, condescended to, or treated rudely. And when it happens the “victim” has the right to feel offended– and to speak up. That said, I’m not sure victims have the right to offend, criticize, or pressure the other person to change. I’ve lived many years as one of the “priveledged” ones: white and blonde. But I was always female and have gotten old and (gotta face it) fat. Every time I perceive disrespect I have to choose whether it is worth my emotional energy to challenge it.
I’m saddened about your treatment in craft stores. Does your larger community discriminate too? The drugstore? The coffee shop? The stratas of bias can run horizontally (as in geographical and regional prejudices) or vertically (as in art communities, banking, academia, etc.) Bravo to you for challenging the ones you are most involved with.