Welcome to NeedleXChange, conversations on the art of thread. It’s our podcast in which Jamie “Mr X Stitch” Chalmers talks with needlework and textile artists about their practice and process.
Liz Kueneke is an Ibizan-based artist whose community-created maps plot personal paths through urban environments.
She has carried out projects in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Ibiza, Amsterdam, Barcelona, New York and more and helps communities to understand their neighbourhoods through participatory embroidery. You can listen to our full interview with Liz on our podcast NeedleXChange!
Her Urban Fabric project involves embroidering maps of different cities and inviting communities to weave their own narratives into the maps. The project aims to change people’s perceptions of place and foster a sense of connection to their surroundings.
Liz has conducted these participatory mapping projects in various cities around the world, including Barcelona, Manhattan, Bangalore and Morocco. What influences this concept is Liz’s study of psychogeography, which explores different ways of experiencing and understanding our environment.
To create the work, large hand-embroidered maps of areas are created and then taken to the communities for them to embellish with stitches.
This is a fantastic idea, as the participants add value to the embroidered maps with their own experiences. It provides a social history to the area that you wouldn’t get from municipal maps.
You can tell from the various photographs on Liz’s site that she gets terrific engagement from the communities, many of which have existing embroidery traditions within their cultures.
Not only is a tangible map of the area created, but it serves as a time capsule of the places and spaces that have value at the time of creation. It would be fascinating to run the same project across subsequent decades to discover what changes and what remains the same.
I think this is a wonderful concept and something that any group should try. Needlework skills are not imperative and once the map is created any form of embellishment would work. You can discover a lot more about the projects on Liz’s website and if you’re part of a craft group, you should give it some serious thought!
Follow Liz Kueneke on Instagram to discover the other creative projects she runs with communities, and if you have the time, enjoy this video from the Urban Fabric project:
Don’t forget to listen to our full interview on our Podcast NeedleXChange!
