THE SUBVERSIVE STITCH : EMBROIDERY AND THE MAKING OF THE FEMININE

Rozsika Parkers re-evaluation of the reciprocal relationship between women and embroidery has brought stitchery out from the private world of female domesticity into the fine arts, created a major breakthrough in art history and criticism, and fostered the emergence of todays dynamic and expanding crafts movements. The Subversive Stitch is now available again with a new Introduction that brings the book up to date with exploration of the stitched art of Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, as well as the work of new young female and male embroiderers. Rozsika Parker uses household accounts, womens magazines, letters, novels and the works of art themselves to trace through history how the separation of the craft of embroidery from the fine arts came to be a major force in the marginalisation of womens work. Beautifully illustrated, her book also discusses the contradictory nature of womens experience of embroidery: how it has inculcated female subservience while providing an immensely pleasurable source of creativity, forging links between women.