Textiles, Community and Controversy

Taking a major textile artwork, The Knitting Map, as a central case study, this book interrogates the social, philosophical and critical issues surrounding contemporary textile art today. It explores gestures of community and controversy manifest in contemporary textile art practices, as both process and object.
Created by more than 2,000 knitters from 22 different countries, who were mostly working-class women, The Knitting Map became the subject of national controversy in Ireland. Exploring the creation of this multi-modal artwork as a key moment in Irish art history, Textiles, Community and Controversy locates the work within a context of feminist arts practice, including the work of Judy Chicago, Faith Ringold and the Guerilla Girls.
Bringing together leading art critics and textile scholars, including Lucy Lippard, Jessica Hemmings and Joanne Turney, the collection explores key issues in textile practice from gender, class and nation to technology and performance.

Jools Gilson is Professor of Creative Practice at University College Cork, Ireland. She is a transdisciplinary artist and award-winning radio broadcaster. She directed the textile art project The Knitting Map from 2003-2005, and has written and presented on the work internationally.
Nicola Moffat is an independent scholar, poet and artist who lives and practises in Cork, Ireland. She has published articles in several journals and edited collections, and her poetry has appeared in magazines and anthologies. She is a regular contributor to Ó Bheál, Cork's longest running open mic night and to events organised in support of Fired! Irish Women Poets.