2024 Episode 3: Emily Hawkes
An investigation into the Significance of Embodied Materiality Through Hand-Knitting to Support Wellbeing and Commemoration
This episode features a conversation with Emily Hawkes, a final year undergraduate student on the BA Artist Designer: Maker course at Cardiff School of Art & Design, about her final year research which explores the cultural phenomenon of knitting. It asks about the emerging therapeutic benefits on wellbeing, its role as a coping strategy during life transitions, and for integrating the deceased in ongoing lives.
In conversation with Emily are Professor John Littlewood, and Dr Leanne Freeman.
You can find out more about Emily’s work via Instagram: @klawk.art
If you would like to follow up on some of the ideas discussed in this episode you may find the following resources interesting:
- Riley, J., Corkhill, B. and Morris, C. (2013). ‘The Benefits of Knitting for Personal and Social Wellbeing in Adulthood: Findings from an International Survey’, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(2), pp.50–57.
- Turney, J. (2009). The culture of knitting
- Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity. Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention
- Fisk, A. (2019). ‘Stitch for Stitch, You Are Remembering’: Knitting and Crochet as Material Memorialization. Material Religion, 15(5), pp.553–576. (As well as other works from Anna Fisk).
- The knitted work of Katya Budkovskaya has been deeply inspiration for this dissertation artefact too: @shrewfriend
You can view some images of Emily’s work in the images below:
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