18 Dec My Craftivism*: by craftivist Sarah Buck
“My Craftivism” is a series: We’re always excited to hear about & spotlight craftivism projects that fellow craftivistas are involved in. In this series we hope to offer a platform to craftivists to show and speak about their latest craftivism activities. If you would like to share your own craftivism piece or event with us please do email us at Craftivist.Collective@gmail.com for more info 
Craftivist Sarah Buck
Name: Sarah Buck (aka sabsabuk). See Sarah’s blog here.
Location: London, UK
Craft of choice: Machine knitting, sewing and printing.
How did you get into craftivism? I learnt about Sarah Corbet and the Craftivists when working with Oxfam and Christian Aid a year or two ago. I was struck by the idea of using craft and activism and thought I would use this with some of the chidren and young people I was working with at the time, they loved it.
I only recently became involved on more personal level after attending a ‘stitch in’ in the summer and have never looked back.
Sarah holding her star and tag she made at our ‘Your’e a Star’ free workshop at the V&A 1st December 2013
Tell us about your craftivism project / event – what did you do, and how, and why? I made this star at a workshop hosted by the Craftivists at the V&A. The workshop focused on how we are all stars and challenged us to think about we live our lives and how we can make a difference. So, I made a star with the simple words ‘You’re a Star’ stitched onto it with some other random bits of stitching thrown in. I chose the words ‘you’re a star’ for two reasons, one being, that there are many people in our world who work tirelessly and selflessly to help others and our planet without anyone saying thank you to them and secondly, to challenge people to think about how they live and how they too can be stars.
Believe it or not this small star took me about 4 hours to do and that is one of the beauties of this type of activism, it takes time and allows you to be absorbed, not only in the craft but more importantly by the issues higlighted.
What response have you got / do you hope to get from your craftivism? I have yet to have a response as I believe my star is still hanging in a certain department store in central London.
What were you thinking about while you were stitching? I was really touched by the idea that we can all be stars. For a lot of people the idea of being able to make a difference in the world is something which is unachievable, so why should they try? When actually we all have some amazing gifts, passions and actions which we could use to challenge injustice and make positive change. It challenged me to think about ways I could change my life to make more of a positive difference in the world.
How do you think that craftivism can change the world? There examples from over the centuries and from around the world where craft has united people, communities and nations, creating a greater sense of belonging and purpose, craftivism very much embodies this. It not only brings people from all over the world together to craft but challenges them to think beyond themselves and focus about bringing greater change to not just their local communities but also their global community. This is how craftivism is changing the world.
Thanks Sarah for your time and thoughtful words. If you would like to write a guest post for the Craftivist Collective blog, please email us at Craftivist.collective@gmail.com
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