Visible Stitches, Invisible Women

Over time, some things lose their practical necessity but remain deeply present in everyday life, carrying memory, care, and emotional weight. For Yang Yu, hand-knitted sweaters made by mothers and grandmothers fall into this category. They hold not only warmth and love, but also traces of women’s labor, skill, and creative judgment.

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Visible Stitches, Invisible Women begins with this personal memory and develops into an interactive space that draws attention to women’s hidden labor and textile knowledge as they enter code-based and machine systems. Yang Yu transforms hand-knitted stitches into a unique pattern system that allows audiences to create their own designs. Through this process, the work invites viewers to recall and rethink women’s emotional, creative, and technical contributions in everyday life.

 

Special thanks to the experts: Marnix de Nijs.

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This project is supported by CBKRotterdam.