Louder Than Bombs
By Rachael Matthews
Rachael Matthews talks to us about her involvement in 'Louder Than Bombs': Art, Action and Activism, being shown at the Stanley Picker Gallery Kingston, London. The title of the show is taken from the title of the Smiths 'best of' album. Over 7 weeks in February and March, 7 residencies will show 7 ways to activate change. It involves 7 artists, including Prick Your Finger.
In 1985, I hit double figures and discovered knitting was for me. I completed a simple floppy blue vest slung over a hip belt, asked the hairdresser for a quiff, and spent hours at our local record shop, thinking the vest made me look like a Smiths fan. The man in the shop introduced me to Tears for Fears, who I loved, but I wanted to love The Smiths 'Meat is Murder.' I knew The Smiths had depth, but I had to grow up before understanding and enjoying them.
Morrissey, promoting 'Meat is Murder' was causing controversy by targeting the Thatcher administration, the Monarchy and Band Aid. This was an era where artists were activists, and kids like me, who were too young to understand politics, really believed that our creativity could one day be a catalyst for world change. Finishing my vest, I knew 'I had started something.'
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Louise Harries, lying on her boyfriend's bed, |
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, my business partner and collaborater, Louise was knitting and making documentaries in car parks using a tape recorder. We hadn't met at this time, but we had both gasped, when on Top of the Pops, Morrissey ripped open his shirt open to reveal his chest, which asked us to 'Marry Me'.
Willing to marry him, it wasn't until our mid-teens that The Smiths inspired us to form opinions and wonder 'What difference does it make?' Now in our mid thirties, we run Prick Your Finger, a post consumer yarn shop and gallery in Bethnal Green. We've both realised that marrying Morrissey is clearly not an option, but the songs we will love forever.
The Smiths are back on our stereo as we prepare for "Louder than Bombs."
The show's title comes with a quote from 1985 by artist Joseph Beuys;
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"Art that cannot shape society and therefore also cannot penetrate the heart questions of society, |
Each of the seven residences will investigate different forms of activism, and through live art, do something useful. Our week, of which you are all invite to partake, is called;
'Murder at the Wool Hall! Prick Your Finger starts something it can't finish.'
By constructing the world's first bicycle powered wool mill, we will turn the unwanted sheep fleeces within the M25 into a range of seductive yarns, good enough for the Queen. Everyone is invited to join the workforce. There will be plenty of jobs and much to learn. Bike power will generate our machinery and party atmosphere, making hard work rewarding. Analyzing our factory's production data, with live link-ups to the Stock Exchange, illustrated information from 'Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops' and 'The Environmental Justice Foundation', our factory will ask the world to listen to sensible ways of profiting from nature, without exploitation.
At Prick Your Finger, we've been spinning fleece from London farms for a couple of years now. Our romantic cottage industry has given us an insight into what yarn production entailed before the industrial revolution. We understand why Rumplestiltskin has been such a popular fairy tale down the generations - some tasks seem never ending.
Preparation of fleece by hand is hardcore. Starting with removing shit, you pick out the quality wool, checking for wool break, which happens if the sheep has been poorly. The old method of washing fleece in a bucket of stale piss did not appeal to us, so we wash our fleeces by machine.
Carding, or combing is the hardest work of all, and used to be a common job. Bishop Blaize, the patron saint of wool combing, was put to death by being tormented with iron combs, by the order of Licinius in A.D. 316 but would not die. He was then ordered to be drowned, but walked on the water and was eventually beheaded. Wool combers celebrated St. Blaize's day right through the Victorian era, even after the invention of the wool-combing machine.
"So determinedly anxious were the country people," wrote Robert Chambers in his Book of Days, " for the celebration by a blaze that they would sacrifice articles of some importance to make one. Country women went about during the day in an idle merry humour, making good cheer; and if they found a neighbour spinning, they thought themselves justified in making a conflagration of the distaff."
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The Noble Woolcombing machine, by Mr. Noble 1853 |
The Noble Carding Machine, and the Spinning Jenny were beautiful pieces of Victorian engineering, which sped up production, but also caused mass protest, as they replaced many jobs. To keep the peace, mill owners would organise elaborate celebrations under the guise of St. Blaize's day. Pagents consisted of 'Woolstaplers on horseback, caparisoned with fleece, in white stuff waistcoats, with each a sliver over the shoulder and a white stuff sash; the horses' necks covered with nets made of thick yarn.'
Workers would dress as Bishop Blaize, the King and Queen, shepherds and shepherdesses, and once their performance over, they were 'regaled with sandwiches and ale, of which they partook freely - in some instances, indeed, too freely" *
Once the mills were established, Britain started reaping it's empire of cotton, which it cheekily, sold back to the empire, ruining India. Years later, Ghandi masterminded India's independence, stopping it's export of cotton, and causing mass unemployment in the northern British mills. Ghandi used the spinning wheel as a representation of the philosophy of fullness; 'a mirror of the mind- the mirror that upholds the true image of man, who knows no defeat in this untiring and undaunted endeavour for ascent and excellence.'
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Rachael using the Chakhra, |
Ghandi designed the Book Charkha, a spinning wheel, which folded out of an old cigar box. Cotton could be grown in back gardens, and the Charkha made in simple workshops. Spinning at home would install in everyone 'the glorious spirit of the victory of man.'
In considering turning electric, it's interesting to compare the issues of the Victorian era with our concerns now. Our cities are grid locked with cars and oil is scarce. Britain has very few mills left, and processing wool is slow and expensive. Textile production, was at times, hard on the work force, but formed an economic back- bone of Britain. This has now been lost to unethical manufacturing structures and disposable fashion sold to us from the far east. These processes are draining the resources of the planet, causing climate change, such as the draining of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, to 15% of it's original size, for the production of cotton.
Back at Prick Your Finger, our hand spun artisan yarns steadily sell even though in a high price bracket. Knitters recognise that a human touch creates a richer, friendlier, and unique texture, and being able to see the yarns being spun in the shop window, they are inspired to cast on and finish the story. With tonnes of surplus fleece waiting, we recognise the need to speed up production, teach spinning, and develop the market we have started to create.
The spinning wheel is a universal theme in myth and fairytales and a great catalyst for talking and sharing our histories and aspirations. The mechanics and romance of the spinning wheel seem to appeal to everyone we meet, and people are keen to learn. Our residency in Stanley Picker Gallery, will demystify spinning, show it's simplicity, and teach it in the easiest way. Beginners clatter as they drop spindles and spend weeks forming worm like tangles on the wheel, but that doesn't matter. Our mentors, Morris, Ruskin, Ghandi, have taught us that people should be rewarded for their toil, not just by the product, but what they become by the work. Our mission is for everyone to leave our mill feeling better than when they arrived. No one will leave empty handed.
Like Ghandi's spinning wheel, the bicycle is also a symbol of political freedom. Our bike- powered generators invite you to burn energy powering the kettle, Heath Robinson style electric spinning wheels, the ticker machine to light the disco, and the electric buzzer to sound at regular intervals for bingo.
In The Smiths' video for "Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before" Morrissey ambles with his gang on bicycles along the derelict terraces and back yard walls of Salford. All sporting the same haircut, midway between a quiff and a mohawk, looking studious in glasses and floppy cardigans, The Smiths gang create their own power. In the 'Louder Than Bombs' show, pedal power will once again give us power, in a new era where the political speech seems to have died, and the world won't listen to our need to wear stitches made with love...
Textile workers of the world unite and take over! Meet us in Kingston between 16th and 20th March. Please bring your opinions and your energy and your stories. We have a lot of work to be getting on with.
'Louder than Bombs' is in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency,
at Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, Knights Park, Kingston upon Thames, KT10 2QJ
Open Tuesday- Friday 12-6pm, Saturday 12-4pm, Entry free. Tel: 020 8417 4074
Or e-mail us at info (at) prickyourfinger (dot) com
Or follow our progress at prickyourfinger.blogspot.com
* The History of Wool and Woolcombing by James Burnley.
