From Tehran to Thisted via Textiles: Interviews with two textile artists on textile as a successful foundation and privileged ground for co-creation and memory

The point of departure of this article is the artwork created within the framework
of the Fabric of My Life project by textile artists Solveig Søndergaard (DK) and Rezvan Farsijani (FR). The themes of the artworks evolve around craftsmanship
and heritage and the passing on of textile skills between generations which is one
of the central themes of the research project. The article opens with examples of female textile artists of the 20th century, displaying how textiles skills have been employed as a tool for empowerment of women, leading then up to similar feminist movements of the early 21st century such as craftivism and mending, or the pussy hat movement. It then bridges to a framing of the two respective artists that have been working to formulate artistic responses
to the activities of Fabric of My Life. As such, their artworks are embedded in the podcast-series of the project consisting
Else Skjold, Associate Professor,
PhD at the Royal Danish Academy/DK
of interviews about cross-generational and cross-border experiences tied up
to particular garments. The remaining article is shaped as interviews with the artists based on their artworks ‘Promise of Dawn’ (Farsijani) and ‘Stitched Stories’ (Søndergaard). The interview focuses not only on the artworks and how they have been inspired by the Fabric of My Life but also of the individual experiences of the artists of textiles skills being passed over from their own family.