A quiet act of resistance.

[Imnobody4]

Well done Jean Hatchet
Hardwick Hall mounts an exhibition
Material Power is a celebration of tapestry, embroidery and appliqué. Rewoven presents contemporary textile works that respond to, or work in conversation with, the historic surroundings and context of Hardwick Hall.

Displayed throughout the house and aligning with the key themes of Bess’s textile displays, they present and explore aspects of female experiences, identities and power. Connecting with stories told within Hardwick’s historic collection, they also offer reflection on the materiality and cultural symbolism of working with textiles.

"A trans activist stitched blue and pink colours over JK Rowling’s name. Everyone had contributed a name of a notable woman and just one name had been chosen to be erased. The trust and the artist let this nasty act stand. So I rectified it to the original intention of the woman who embroidered it."

https://x.com/JeanHatchet/status/1928853736732110921?t=vWcWLRFC9o56h18MlxACUg&s=19

Injustice corrected

x.com/JeanHatchet/status/1928791016909279683?t=YQ823sghYXT70YwBHQEn2w&s=19

Thanks @Imnobody4

Looks like my son in West London will be getting a visit from me.
Looking forward to it!

Harassedevictee · Yesterday 19:40

This is long but Jean has posted this on X
A little story about the National Trust.

Epic!

😂❤️

Bravo! Clapping my palms together with vigour!!!😅

Thank you. Is it starting in Sheffield?

NT is totally captured.

Just found this article on the artwork

https://thecritic.co.uk/against-the-new-witch-hunt-in-the-arts/

I'm surprised that the artist who devised the work is being condemned for what happened. I don't believe, or care, that she's said anything about it either way.

I'm still inclined to think that there's a difference between letting people add names and letting people deface what somebody else has added.
The person who stitched over the name could legitimately - and with no more effort - have used their pink and blue cotton to embroider "down with JKR", or add the name of a transwomen they admire, or both (and if they had, what they added shouldn't have been removed even if one doesn't like it.)
Instead, they chose to disrespect another woman's effort by stitching over it.

I agree but it's typical tra to take something that someone else has created and try to obliterate it with rainbows. You can still see the intent of the person who actually created it and, sometimes, it can be restored. Pretty good metaphor actually.

That article is excellent. I have just finished reading The Gulag Archipelago and it really resonates. (Seriously!)

On balance, I share the artists view that both the name and the crossing out are valid artistic expressions.

Were any other names defaced? E.g. Was there a Margaret Thatcher?

There were many "contentious" names including Thatcher and they weren't sewn over.

Both the JK Rowling names which were on the dress at the time were stitched over. The subsequent names were not but presumably they would have been defaced too if they had been there at the time.

The artwork was supposed to celebrate women. It wasnt supposed to be a debating opportunity. Imo the defacements should have been removed and the work should have been much more closely supervised from the start to prevent action like this.