Knitting Close to the Edge

This visual essay focuses on hand knitting, environment and activism through examples from The Knitting Map (2005) in Cork, Ireland, Romy Owens’ Unbearable Absence of Landscapes (2015) in Tulsa, Oklahoma and The Tempestry Project’s National Parks Project (2016), across the US. The essay re-imagines the knotting of knitting as political dissent through a focus on edges and edginess. Such edges relate to these works in multiple ways - through the materiality of knitting as object (material edges), processual and contextual quality (edginess) as well as their engagement with communities, urban / rural environments and climate. Playfulness and joy as methodology attend this essay through documentation, critical strategy and performative writing.