Elck Syn Waerom

Spring 2023

collaborative textile piece

Elck Syn Waerom* is the outcome of a workshop in collaboration with the Amsterdam branch of Tesselschade, the oldest women’s organization in the Netherlands.
 
*Tesselschade motto coined by Maria Tesselschade, loosely translated as: everyone has their own reasons.

Tesselschade helps women of all denominations to become or remain financially independent. Most visibly, these women can sell handmade items in one of the Tesselschade stores. The aim of the Elck Syn Waerom workshop is to learn about the infrastructure of the Tesselschade organization, to explore the history and current workings of the organization, as well as to examine their textile techniques and craft library. 

With this collaborative textile piece, participants in the Elck Syn Waerom workshop show some of the rich history that can be found in the library of Tesselschade Amsterdam. The piece exhibits various images found in the library, as well as several embroideries and works in other techniques that were discovered there, which were added both by participants in the workshop and Tesselschade’s members. The textile piece takes the shape of a tent, a portal, where we ask the visitor to ponder for a moment the (often rendered invisible) history of women’s labour and the inferior position that handcrafts (still) occupy within the arts. The tent offers respect to the many women – past, present and future – who have dedicated time and energy to Tesselschade, making it into a refuge for women in need of financial support.

Together with Line Arngaard, Elena Braida, Sara Darle Olsson, Anna Klas, Elisa van Joolen, Freja Nøhr Kristiansen, Marina van der Lecq, Afroditi Terzi, Hanka van der Voet and  Rosa Shepherd.
Led and initiated by Elisa van Joolen

in collaboration with Tesselschade library Amsterdam, special thanks to the Tesselschade library team.