Who does not love the rose? We grow them in our gardens, admire their matchless beauty, breathe in their rich perfume, and give them to our beloved as a gesture of our affection.
Roses are also beneficial to our health and wellbeing. Rose oil is a highly prized and expensive product with powerful healing benefits to mind and body. The distillation of rose petals creates some of the world’s most famous perfumes.
Roses have forever been culturally significant too. As far back as the ancient Sumerian goddess, Innana, whose power was embodied by the rose, and the Greek and Roman goddesses of love, Aphrodite and Venus, the rose has been associated with femininity and love.
The rose has also been appropriated by politics; the symbol of the red rose being often used by social democratic parties in the postwar period. The famous slogan ‘bread and roses’ was originally used in a speech by an American suffragist, Helen Todd, and has since inspired poems and film.
We are urged to ‘smell the roses,’ take time out of our busy lives to enjoy their beauty. We are reminded of the snares and pain of love by their thorns. Their petals fall, as do we, reminding us of our own mortality. Poets and artists have employed the rose to convey a host of meanings.
Now the rose has been invoked in another way, to spotlight a widespread scourge in our society which shows no sign of abating: violence against women and girls (VAWG).
The Worcester Craftivists
A group of creative activists, The Worcester Craftivists, has produced a stunning art installation to highlight what the project’s curator, Leisa Taylor, calls “the shocking prevalence of gendered crimes and male violence.”
Members of the Worcester Craftivists have made a crocheted rose for every single woman and girl who has been murdered by a man in the past year in the UK. Attached to each rose is a label providing the name and information about a victim of femicide. Tied together with black ribbon, the installation was launched at a White Ribbon event on 25th November.
The White Ribbon campaign is the UK’s leading charity working with men and boys to change attitudes, systems and behaviours around rigid gender norms and masculinity that perpetuate inequality and violence.
The rose installation is being displayed in venues across the city during 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The event culminates in the Reclaim the Night Vigil on Thursday 5th December 2024 at the Granary in Worcester. At the vigil, the names of every woman and girl killed by male violence will be read out.
The craftivist collective was recently formed to use the power of stitch to promote actions to “make the world a better place.” The women have also created banners and placards for the Reclaim the Night March in the city on 5th December.
Craft as protest
Women have long used their crafting skills to highlight injustices, to express their horror and offer solidarity with the oppressed.
Craftivism typically incorporates elements of environmentalism, feminism, solidarity, and social justice, creating work in a spirit of community. It is centred on what have traditionally been thought of as ‘domestic arts’ practised by women and often dismissed in the male-dominated art world. The creation of art and craft becomes an empowering process, making the invisible visible and amplifying the conversation about inequality and oppression. It also ties in with a renewed interest in repurposing, remaking, and rediscovering the crafts which our mothers and grandmothers used.
We have seen examples of yarn bombing, quilt making, and needlework bringing important issues into the public eye, into public spaces and galleries. As Betsy Greer, credited as popularising craftivism through her writing, puts it, it is “a way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper, and your quest for justice more infinite.”
O rose thou art sick
As the words of William Blake’s poem shockingly express, the crimson rose is sick because of the invisible worm that “does thy life destroy.” When I recall this poem, I cannot help thinking of the many women who have suffered violent abuse or have died at the hands of men.
Every year we mark these murders and say their names. We remember the many women who have been killed by men, and also those whose names are still unknown.
We call on everyone – government, our menfolk, all of society – to join the effort to eradicate domestic violence and femicide. In the past year, the killed women count stands at more than three per week. Nothing seems to change. Given the prominence of certain men in the media standing accused of misogyny, sexual assault and worse, and the likes of Elon Musk and Nigel Farage promoting ‘pronatalism,’ in a climate where the rights of women are under attack, we have much to fear.
Thank you to the Worcester Craftivists for bringing this shameful issue into the light and standing in solidarity with all women.Further details about the Worcester Craftivists can be found on the group’s Facebook page or Instagram account.
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