Comics craftivism : Embroidery in contemporary Swedish feminist comics

The aim of this article is to analyse contemporary feminist comics by the Swedish comics artists Åsa Grennvall/Schagerström, Lotta Sjöberg and Sara Granér in relation to the ongoing movement called craftivism, as defined by Betsy Greer and her fellow crafters. The article argues that embroidered feminist comics can be regarded as comics craftivism, since, although similar to drawings, they are all sewn by needle and thread, and often thematise topics connected to craftivism’s ideas concerning ‘raising consciousness, creating a better world stitch by stitch’. The comics artists use embroidered comics to create ‘wider conversations about uncomfortable issues’, e.g. feminist issues, such as being trapped in a violent relationship as in Schagerström’s cover image for Svinet [The Swine], or the unequal sharing of household work in Sjöberg’s sequential story in Det kan alltid bli värre. [It can always get worse]. The feminist, craftivist comics artists are engaged in the politics of the handmade – narrating through textiles. The content concerns political, environmental and gender issues. Comics craftivism contributes to the renewal of the comics medium, and while experimenting artistically with materials and techniques, practitioners thematise new ideas as well as new perspectives on lingering problems, often with irony and humour.Contemporary Swedish Feminist Comics as Medium for Political Activism and Critique (VR2018-01165