The Power of the Needle/ Nålens Makt
“All you need is a needle, a thread, and a story.”
January-April 2019. ARKIVET Peace and Human Rights Centre.
The project Power of the Needle/Nålens Makt used creative intercultural dialogue to explore the themes of identity and resistance in the handwork of Norwegian and Middle Eastern women in Kristiansand, Norway—from WWII to the present. Through embroidery and storytelling workshops, a history seminar, and a physical exhibition that drew on historic pieces as well as new creations, the project celebrated embroidery as a meaningful form of personal expression and communal connection across cultures. (The exhibition continues online at Be Heard.)
Elements: six embroidery and storytelling workshops, 33 original participant contributions for the exhibition, one documentary film, one public history seminar on the embroidery traditions associated with the exhibition.
Credits: Developed, facilitated, and produced by Katrina Flett Gulbrandsen (Creative Coordinator) with Solveig Hessaa-Szwinto (Inclusion and Diversity Coordinator) at ARKIVET within the Voices of the Refugees project.
Partners: Norges Husflidslag, KIA-kompetanse Kristiansand
Supporters: Gjensidigestiftelsen, Kulturrådet, Vest-Agder fylkeskommune
Storytelling & Embroidery:
the Power of the needle
A short documentary film by Elie Gardner and Solveig Hessaa-Szwinto for ARKIVET Peace and Human Rights Center.
Exhibition unveiling, Power of the Needle
Traditional Middle Eastern and North African embroidery samples
Embroidery workshop, Power of the Needle
Seminar on Norwegian and Palestinian folk dress
Seminar on Norwegian and Palestinian folk dress
Participants at work, embroidery workshop