Mar
10
It’s in the blood
Nearing the end of a wonderful three week trip in Aotearoa and I’m taking some time to look back and remember all the good bits so they’re ingrained in my memory. I’ve met some super inspiring people and seen some amazing craft!
This is the first of a hopefully few posts about wonderful creative stuff I’ve seen. And this post is all about the Melbourne of New Zealand; Wellington.
As previously mentioned I did a talk about radical craft history in Wellington. But I couldn’t do the talk until I’d visited a very distant relative I’d been trying to track down for a long time. I have an ancestor whom I always knew was politically active. When I first got involved in politics I had a picture of her on my wall to inspire my activism.
Lucy Lyall was active in local politics in Wellington in the 1850s and 1860s. This was a long time before women were able to vote so it was hardly a pro woman space to be working in. Nonetheless, Lucy was right amongst it with the boys. Notably, Lucy was very involved in the 1856 Wellington Provincial election between Featherston and Wakefield. An obituary after Lucy died mentions a procession of boats she lead around Wellington Harbour visiting all the wee settlements to campaign for Featherston. At the conclusion of the tour Lucy pulled out an effigy of Wakefield, which while she tolled a bell, proceeded to drown. Hardly what you’d call an example of positive politics, but I do admire the creativity.
About a year ago I was going through some of my old papers and I stumbled across my Lucy papers. I stopped for a wee read and then I turned a page to see a banner Lucy had made. I remember seeing the image before. It was pretty common place in those days for women to craft small tokens of political affiliation. But I hadn’t seen this in a long time. And you know what?
It was cross stitch.
I am sure you can imagine my joy! So knowing I was visiting Wellington, I arranged through my wonderful grandmother to visit the house of the women who had this cross stitch in her possession.
And here it is.
The flag is in the colours of Featherston’s campaign and is hand sewn. And the text is from the Featherston campaign song
As you can see it is a very old piece! While it has been looked after very well over the years – I understand it spent quite a few decades flat between papers in a cupboard – it is definitely starting to show signs of wear. So I will be helping to find the best person to advise on how to protect it for the future. I’m hoping it will end up in a museum somewhere but I do share the concern that it would be a shame to see it end up in the basement of Te Papa where noone will see it.
But yes super exciting to finally see the piece in person!
And even more exciting was the surprise to find out that not only is this stitch in the family still but so is the sampler of Lucy’s daughter Rachel, which was started (but not completed) when she was just six years old.
This piece was just so delightful to look at. The stitching is tiny – much smaller than the sort of stitches us cross stitchers use today. And it must have been hours of work for such a young girl. Having spent quite a bit of time recently looking at old samplers it seems most young girls started their samplers at 8 or 9 so this is quite unusual. This piece is also in very good condition for its age and is showing a lot less deterioration than the other piece so hopefully this can get properly framed soon too.
Needless to say Lucy’s cross stitch has definitely gone into the powerpoint show. I’ve updated it a bit recently so I’ll put a new version online soon.
The talk in Wellington was fantastic. We had an awesome turn out and raised over $200 for the Oct 15th Solidarity fund. And I met so many inspiring creative women there. Hopefully some of the relationships that began that night will continue for a long time! Thanks a bajillion to the womyn who worked really hard to bring the talk together.
More stories from Wellington and other parts of the country to come next!
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