Democracy Knits – an exhibition
New Zealand was the first self-governing democracy in the world to give women the right to vote. 120 years later, Hamilton City Council’s voter turnout has dropped to 29% – with less than 50,000 people voting in the last local election.
When the law changed in 1893, 100,000 women enrolled to vote in that year’s election.
Continuing in the feminist, craftivism tradition, Democracy Knits invites people to consider our history, our civic duties, and how we can challenge our downward voter trajectory. All knits for sale.
Louise Hutt is a knitter, gardener, and Hamilton City Councillor. They hold a Master’s of Media & Creative Technologies from the University of Waikato, with a post-grad specialisation in digital cinema and an undergrad major in graphic design. With 20 years of experience as a sewist and 15 years with fibre arts – crafts are a creative practice that grounds them with their ancestors (England, Ireland, Wales, and Orkney Islands) and inside a feminist worldview.