Thinking through the Surface: A Research-Action Workshop to explore textile craft in the soundscape of war

Description

This presentation and workshop explored the role of textile craft as a sensory and emotional response to crisis, focusing on its therapeutic and expressive potential. Drawing on Tim Ingold’s conception of craft as a haptic, embodied practice shaped by the interplay of skill and environment, we considered how making could foster states of flow and solace. At the same time, we reflected on how, in wartime, craft was often shaped by displacement, scarcity, and survival rather than autonomy.

Our point of departure was a collection of linen drawstring bags made by displaced French and Belgian women living near the frontlines in the Marne and Meuse during the First World War. Designed by the Omega Workshops—associated with the Bloomsbury Group—and produced in Quaker-run relief workshops, these embroidered bags were intended as both practical items and therapeutic interventions amidst the trauma of war.

Through hands-on making, listening exercises, and collaborative reflection, participants engaged with the material and emotional histories of these objects. The workshop offered space to explore textile craft as both an individual and collective response to upheaval, and to consider how such often-overlooked objects carry affective and historical resonance. Together, we began to develop a shared textile language and research approach attuned to making in conditions of crisis.

Period	12 Jun 2025
Event title	Weaving, language, writing: thinking and practicing research-creation
Event type	Conference
Location	Angers, FranceShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International