Invasion/Infestation. My Third Tiny Pricks

Tiny Pricks Invasion/Infestation

My third Tiny Pricks, called Infestation/Invasion, turned out just as I pictured it.

I started with the vintage embroidery of a Mexican couple that someone sent me a while ago and surrounded them with the words, infestation and invasion.

Donald Trump has used these words again and again to describe immigrants and refugees coming into our country, and neighborhoods where people of color live. When used in this way, both words have a long racist history in the United States.

Language Columnist, Ben Zimmer wrote about them in two different articles.

In “Where does Trumps Invasion Rhetoric Come From“, Zimmer describes how in the late 1800s Chinese immigrants coming to the West Coast were thought of as unarmed, insidious, invaders.

When Chinese immigration was restricted in 1882, the word invasion continued to be used to describe other groups of people coming to the United States at different times in our history.

In his article  What Trump Talks About When He Talks About Infestations, The frightening political history of the word infest, Zimmer writes:  

Historically the verb “infest” has been used to talk not just about literal pests and diseases, but also to compare people—very often minorities and immigrant groups—to pests and diseases.”

He makes the point that when you compare people to pests and disease, they don’t have to be seen as people anymore.

Both words imply that something needs to be done to eradicate the people they refer to. “Infestations justify exterminations,” wrote NY Times columnist Charles M. Blow.  And military force is what we usually use to stop invaders.

You can follow my process of making Invasion/Infestation here.

“Invasion, Infestation”. My Third Tiny Pricks

I wrote about starting my third Tiny Pricks last week.

This one will have just two words repeated over and over on a vintage linen that someone embroidered a Mexican couple on years ago.

This linen was bigger and has two other parts to it.  On one end the image was repeated and in the middle was the same couple getting married on a Sunday.

I’m repeating the two words, Invasion and Infestation as Donald Trump has repeatedly used them when referring to people and communities, that he sees as a threat,  who aren’t white.

First, I cut this section of the linen and hemmed it.  Then I wrote the  words on the linen in pencil.

My third Tiny Pricks

Now I’m embroidering the words, using two different shade of brown of embroidery thread.  I hope to finish it tonight.

There is a thunderstorm gaining strength out there, so if the lights go out, I will not be doing embroidery by candlelight like so many women have done before me.   I’ll just wait till tomorrow.

 

My Third Tiny Pricks

A screen shot from #tinypricks on Instagram, with my tiny pricks in it.

I got this picture from  #tinypricks on instagram.  That’s my first tinypricks in the upper right corner.  It’s Donald Trumps response, “I sorta get away with things like that”, when interviewed about his bursting into the Miss America dressing room.

It’s placed with a few of the other tinypricks, made by other people and sent into The Tiny Pricks Project.  They all refer to or are statements made by Donald Trump about women.

Having my tinypricks alongside all the others makes me feel like I’m a part of something that makes a difference.  Seeing all the tiny pricks together, knowing they come from all over the country, each one hand embroidered, shows the power of the individual when we join together.

The Tiny Pricks Project is a wonderfully creative political protest.

And I know as long as Donald Trump is in office, I’ll always have another idea for a tinypricks.

This is the linen I’ll be using for the next tinypricks.  I cut it off from a larger piece, the other part it shows the same couple on Sunday, getting married.

This tinypricks will have just two words repeated, covering the white space around the original embroidery.  Those words are “Invasion” and ‘Infestation“.  Two words that Donald Trump has used again and again to describe, what he believes, that people who aren’t white, are doing to the country.

These two words speak strongly of Trumps racist beliefs.

In his article, Combating The White-Nationalist Terrorist Threat,  Simon Clark at the Center for American Progress writes:

“… there is plenty of evidence that Trump shares many of the beliefs that underpin white supremacy—most notably in his continued use of the tropes of invasion and infestation so typical of this genocidal ideology….”

I’m going to stitch the two words on the linen in different shades of brown, representing the skin colors of the people that Trump is targeting with these words.

I’m grateful to Diane Weymar, who created the Tiny Pricks Project, for giving me this creative venue to express my idea’s and beliefs.

And if you’d like to create a tinypricks, but need a hankie or linen to embroider your Trump quote on, I’ll be happy to send you a couple. Just email me here at [email protected]. I’ve already sent out hankies to 5 or 6 people.

Weymar wants to have 2020 tinypricks by the 2020 election and she’s more than half way there, but can always use more tinypricks.

You can read about the Tiny Pricks Project and how to participate here. 

Going To Maine To See The Tiny Pricks Project

A screen shot from the Tiny Pricks Project on Instagram. (That’s one of mine, third down on the left) These are just a few of the Tiny Pricks created by people from all over the country. There are over 1000 so far.

When the Tiny Pricks Project was in a gallery in NYC I thought about going to see it, but didn’t.  Now it’s going to be at the Speedwell Gallery in Portland Maine.

So Jon and I are going.

I wanted to be there for the opening reception September 14, but Nicole, our farm sitter wasn’t available.  So we’re going the weekend after.  Which, when I thought about, it is probably even better.

Opening Receptions are like parties to me.  If someone asks me to go to a party a month away, I’m all eager, thinking it will be fun.  But a few days before I start to get jiggy about it.  On the way there,  I wonder why I ever agreed to go.

At first, I was disappointed not to be going to the opening, but when I pictured myself in the crowded gallery, with people standing around talking, I started to get that uncomfortable feeling.

And suddenly the thought of me in a quiet gallery, taking as much leisurely time as I chose to look at the exhibit, was very appealing.

We’re planning on staying somewhere south of Portland overnight, I’m still working all of it out, but excited to be going.  I’ll be sure to get pictures and blog about it.

The Tiny Pricks Project will be at the Speedwell Gallery from September 14 – November 3rd.  Click here for more information.

My Fourth Tiny Pricks…

I just finished my third Tinypricks (I’ll write about it later) and came up with an idea for another one.

I had this quote on my mind (“I think my rhetoric is a very…er…it brings people together”)  since Trump said it. And today I found the perfect hankie to stitch it on.

You can see all the Tiny Pricks so far (along with mine) here. 

And don’t forget, if you’d like to make a Tiny Pricks, but need a hankie or linen to embroider it on, I’ll be happy to send you one.  Just email me here at [email protected].

You can read all about Diana Weymar’s Tiny Prick Project and how to participate here. 

Our Latest Podcast: Fate Becomes A Therapy Dog and Tiny Pricks

Mary, Alice Carol and Fate, doing her therapy work,  at The Mansion

We ran out of time, but got to two of the topics we wanted to talk about in our latest Podcast, (which you can listen to here),  Fate becoming a Therapy Dog and my participation in the  Tiny Pricks Project.

The third topic, that we didn’t get to, is Panic Attacks.

So this is our first two-part podcast.  Tomorrow we’ll pick up where we left off today and talk about our experiences having and helping each other, when we have a panic attack.  We’re hoping this will be helpful to other people who also have panic attacks.

I love that Fate has this new  therapy work to do.  I’m glad she and Jon get to do it together and  think it’s good for everyone involved.

We also talk a about the Tiny Pricks Project, started by Diana Weymar,  which has given me another creative way to deal with  my feelings about the Trump presidency.  One that is collaborative and in my opinion, divinely  feminine.

(You can see the piece I made for the Tiny Pricks Project here.)

You can listen to any of our Katz and Wulf On Bedlam Farm podcasts any time by clicking on the Podcast buttons on my blog or by clicking here. 

And if you like what you hear, you can leave  review on iTunes, which helps promote our podcast.

Thanks for listening!

 

Full Moon Fiber Art