Threadwinners

Threadwinners is a crochet collaborative that aims to subvert the status quo through the vehicle of crochet, often with a disarmingly whimsical and lowbrow aesthetic. Their collaborative pieces often ruminate on the body as landscape, the intersection of memory and loss, and the constant overwhelming sensory overload present in modern society.

Threadwinners began their collaborative art practice in 2016 and are currently based in OC & LA. Their work has been shown in galleries across the US and internationally.

Out of Hand is a reiteration of an installation originally displayed at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California. In its original context, the imposing hand was juxtaposed against a pseudo-landscape full of darkening clouds, mutated mushrooms, and an unattainable chest of gold and jewels. The tableau was seemingly corrupted by the hand itself as it reached toward the unreachable at the end of a rainbow.

Now out of its original context, Out of Hand is suspended through a void of clouds and candles illuminating a pathless way. It seems even more preposterous that this reaching hand seems to have no goal, nowhere to aim itself and its corruption.

This begs the audience to wonder: Why do we want the things we can not have? What can we or capitalistic greed possibly be reaching towards with such an unknown and bleak future ahead of us?

Perhaps Out of Hand is a mirror for this generation, reflecting on the promised fruits of our labor and grasping for a transparent and unattainable dream. We went to college, obtained our degrees. Yet, here we are, highly educated graduates unable to get well-paying jobs with retirement plans and health insurance. Here we are, having to buy into corporate America’s “hustle culture” to make ends meet, being utterly disenfranchised, and financially burdened in an endlessly inflationary economic era all while our oceans heat up and our ice caps melt.

Our work is in constant dialogue with the viewer, so make and take of this what you will. The soft, nostalgic nature of crochet brings a sort of solace and comfort amidst the formidable imagery confronting you.