Project Overview

Textile Cartographies is a participatory action research project using textile arts as story telling, coordinated by APECV Research Group on Arts, Community and Education (GriArCE) with 29  groups from universities, schools, collectives and NGOs in Americas; Africa; Asia;  Australia and Europe.  The project aims to give voice to minority and peripheral groups in relation to issues such as environment; climate justice; social justice and other sustainability issues through exploring visual discourses using arts and textile technologies.

 Coordination

International Coordination: 
Research Group of the Association of Teachers of Expression and Visual Communication (APECV) and Collective C3. 

29 groups with participants from 18 countries. Each group has one or more coordinators and develop actions with participants. By July 2024, we estimate that about 3500 people  were engaged in TC  actions organized by the local coordinators   in museums; schools; universities; cultural centres; social/health care and non-profit organizations.
See Here the Groups
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The creators of textile cartographies observe their places, inquire about their history, and search for signs, meanings, and alternatives. Participants of the project represent their stories using fabrics, threads, ropes, wool, and more. ​They express ideas, draw attention to and talk about eARTh, rendering life stories in the process, with dreams, despairs and desires.

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timetable

2021: generation of ideas, establishing a network
​2022: establishing a network, Creation of the pedagogical kit by C3; 7 exhibitions, one walking seminar in Portugal.
2023: enlarging the network, 8 exhibitions; one walking seminar in Mexico: one Publication ( TC catalogue 2 years of the project ,  street actions; presentations in conferences and congresses. 
2024: enlarging the network,  8 exhibitions; one walking seminar in Cyprus, one Publication  ( TC catalogue 3 years of the project,   presentations in congresses and cultural events.
2025: final exhibitions; seminar in India; art residencies in South Tyrol and Amazonia, one Publication.

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Participants

In July 2024, TC has a network of 51 local coordinators. They are art teachers in Schools; professors in universities; artists and environmental activists. Through them project partners include NGOs, professional associations; collectives; universities, cultural centres and museums.  The great majority of the groups are from Universities (in total 18)  specially with teachers and students from graduate and post graduation courses in art education, but also with students from art & design; social and health studies.  Local coordinators organize the activities and establish local networks to carry them out in their region.  
Some Local coordinators also created protocols and articulations with   sectors such as a Psychiatric hospital; several day care centres for elder or disable clients, a prison and local leisure/craft associations
Local museums, art festivals, public libraries, and cultural centres have been involved as secondary partners, by providing exhibiting spaces and places to organize workshops for a broader   public.

Normally the involvement of participants is established by the local coordinators, creating articulations between their organizations (universities, associations, NGOs)  and community organizations (e.g. schools, community  centres, associations, etc). The project participants are spread out through different age ranks, as follows: 

• Adults and elder persons: The great majority are women, engaged by the coordinators through articulation protocols with the community or during open workshops.
• Young people and young adults : students engaged via their professors and teachers or during open workshops
• Children : engaged by their educators or during open workshops

 The great majority of participants, are students, coming from public educational institutions.  But some groups are more interested in engaging displaced people, others, work more with elder persons from rural and urban areas.    In terms of social and economical backgrounds, the range is very wide.  Coordinators have observed that interest in textile arts and narratives using textile arts motivates all kinds of people, independent of their gender, social, economical, age or geographical contexts. 

Process

The project idea was developed with invitations to researchers and online meetings to define lines of research and action. It was decided to use participatory action research methods.
The implementation of the project started in January 2021 and is coordinated by the international and local coordinators who invite participants to join the project. 
Following participatory and arts based dimensions, the coordinators and participants  explore  collaborative process through textile arts as means of communication and activist expression to express ideas and feelings about environmental issues. 

Activities

The process is planned locally and through international online meeting with coordinators and participants. Ethical guidelines and Plans for Actions are designed collaboratively.

During  2021 the coordinators shared their visions about cartography and examples of activist textile artists . 

KIT
In 2022 the researchers from Santiago de Compostela Maria Jesus Agra and Cristina Trigo selected artists of reference for the project and created a pedagogical kit as a resource for the group Actions :

• Basic Stitches
• Manifesto Textile
• Artistic References
• Micro-Workshops

​Local Actions
During  2021- 2025 each of the local coordinators promoted actions with groups  of people interested in creating a narrative that expresses ideas and opinions about human action on planet Earth in individual textile squares 10x10 cm .

GIFTS- Exhibitions
During 2022-2025 each Group sent textile works as gifts to other groups for the setting of collective exhibitions, see here the list of international exhibitions.    
 
Read More about the Project

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fieldwork notes, 2023-2024

PARTICIPATORY installation; SURPRISE; NARRATIVES; PLACES ( Bridge to Nowhere); Transforming Museum Audiences; Transforming Museum Practices; Different groups;  Collaboration University- Museum- Communities- Schools ACTIVATING the PARTICIPATION (Santiago) Ladies; Schools: Children were stitching everywhere in the school ( Namibia) Certification of exhibitions; MUSEUMS, Places for exhibition (Elisabeth, Germany) NARRATIVES. Emotional, Elders,   Community ( Carla, Portugal)NARRATIVES. SISTERHOOD ( samira, 2024)Peace; Transformation; intergenerational groups in university; Places  ( Patricia, Mexico). Sound, university ; future teachers ( Ramona, Spain) NARRATIVES, MOTHERHOOD Feminism Women’s Voices; university, schools, community ( Maria-Paz. Spain) NARRATIVES; Women’s Stories SHOWING Women’s voices ; posting is expensive; travelling is not possible, see in the map the places where the works are exhibited ( HEXLAPPIES)  How to make it simple for Children? ( Petra) . GIFT as Resistance ( Teresa, 2024). Manhatan Project; NARRATIVES, University students ( Yichien, WDC) Don’t FEEL ALONE – CONNECTIONS- Be Part of a MAP of VOICES – Transforming Practices. Love & Connections ( Lisa Fitzpatrick, Duluth). Joy of Making ( ABESA, Portugal)  DIVERSITY (Paty, Mexico)| PEACE|MAKING| LEARNING about PLACES|Drifts|GIFT|BELONGING|Creating Communities| Understanding places| Immersion in Context (Group conversations, Mexico, 2nd November 2023)

 ​# Environmental education #climat justice #earthcharter  #artivism #activism  #citizen participation  # art and design  #textile arts  #handicrafts #social engaged arts #ecofeminism #education  #citizenship #textilemaps  # participatory arts #arts based research   # participatory design   # sustainability#community arts  #participatory action research #localization #cartographies ​