desperate times, creative measures

September 7, 2019 7:59 AM

Creating a material record of Trump’s presidency is the mission of Tiny Pricks Project. People are protesting Donald Trump by making embroidered art out of his most outrageous quotes.

The project was started and is curated by Diana Weymar, an American textile artist who lives in Canada. She states that "Tiny Pricks Project counterbalances the impermanence of Twitter and other social media, and Trump’s statements by using textiles that embody warmth, craft, permanence, civility, and a shared history. The daintiness and strength of each piece stands in a stark contrast to his presidency."

More than a thousand entries can be seen on the project's Instagram page.

posted by Too-Ticky (19 comments total)

Outrageous quotes are what he uses to distract the media from covering the real damage he's doing. We'd all be better served by ignoring his statements and tweets, and concentrating on the dismantling of the regulatory system and rolling back of environmental and worker protections, ETC.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:24 AM on September 7, 2019 [11 favorites]

These are self-soothing prayers into the void. There should be physical mass mobilization, but the establishment discourages us from that because it wouldn't just threaten Trump but also the status quo. So we're left embroidering LIL CHEETO MAN while the country burns.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:38 AM on September 7, 2019 [9 favorites]

Tiny pricks is a fantastic name though.
posted by Literaryhero at 8:43 AM on September 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Tiny pricks is a fantastic name though.

I mean, it's a cute pun but it's also body-shaming (see also the one used making fun of Trump's baldness that they chose as an example). Plenty of bald people with tiny pricks aren't fascist dictators. The focus on his physical deficits and not how he and his party are destroying the world and doing crimes against humanity is indicative of the general ideological impoverishment at play. The left has had strong political and economic opinions beaten out of us for decades to the point that all people can think of is throwing toxic-masculine insults back at him. How much good can that do?
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:49 AM on September 7, 2019 [16 favorites]

This is great! Yes, there is lots else to do to mobilize against the president. However, if you are already a fiber artist and this is a outlet that makes you feel better with all the crap going on, go for it. I will sit back and enjoy watching.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:10 AM on September 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

The left has had strong political and economic opinions beaten out of us for decades to the point that all people can think of is throwing toxic-masculine insults back at him. How much good can that do?

I think these are special circumstances. The guy is too stupid to try to deal with on a rational level, and he reacts really poorly to people pointing out his bald head, small hands, and inadequate penis / lovemaking technique.

Yes, it is stooping to his level, but it makes him angry and defensive, good enough for me.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:12 AM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yes, it is stooping to his level, but it makes him angry and defensive

It doesn't, though. A million people could stitch "trump has a small penis" in their living rooms and he wouldn't lose sleep. Trump might be bothered by another celebrity or journalist's perceived slight, but that just means he tweets about it, his supporters love him more for it, and we talk about the tweet and not malnourished lice-covered children sleeping on concrete in a cage. Our own cargo-cult insults won't reach his narcissist's ear. It's the same as thinking Moscow Mitch "gets under McConnell's skin," if a little less egregious.

A threat to their actual power will make them angry and defensive. That means, for example, a million enraged protestors shutting down DC, or a sustained strike that stops all air travel, or massive electoral losses (good luck with that one), not a million self-satisfied needlepoints about his dick.

If bothering the regime is a person's goal and not doing whatever it takes to remove them from power, then that person sees them essentially as a severe annoyance that deserves annoying in return and not a direct threat to their lives and those of their loved ones.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:32 AM on September 7, 2019 [8 favorites]

I'm feeling fairly certain that these artist-crafters aren't aiming to take down the president, toxic-masculinity, or even to hurt Trump's feelings. If they were, of course they'd be doing a terrible job at it. But let's imagine that the point can be something else entirely, and something that's smart, worthwhile, and not as easy as a few quick-stitch insults. Fiber arts (or needle crafts, or needle arts, or arts and crafts with string and stuff--I don't know my terms for this work, obviously) are still, I think, largely seen as women's "hobbies," and work that mocks the president (note that these are his words) on a doily or handkerchief or bra (love this one!) has this glorious effect of being terrifying and hilarious and minimizing. This feels especially true when it sort of vibes like a nice grandma in her parlor just went off the rails in the best way!

I recognize that what I just attempted to describe doesn't fully capture what's happening here, but I simply want to suggest that there are so many valuable ways to comment on and push back against this president's AMAZING WORDS THE BEST WORDS. And by "valuable," I mean please never stop making these, you bright workers of thread and fabric!
posted by Poeia8Kate at 10:05 AM on September 7, 2019 [18 favorites]

I completed this last fall in direct response to the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. I was so full of rage.

I'm unimpressed by all y'all telling me that I'm protesting wrong. It's possible to embroider and protest and organize, but once again whatever women do, we're doing it wrong.
posted by workerant at 10:46 AM on September 7, 2019 [35 favorites]

These are awesome. Samplers for a new age.
posted by Don Pepino at 11:00 AM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

"It was so exciting to sit around with a group of women, and it would've been great with men as well, but none of us really knew each other," Weymar said. "We started to say, 'Remember when he said this?' and 'Remember when he said that?' and 'This is how I felt.'"

"We were actually paying attention to what he was saying, but we were also processing how we felt about it," she continued. "And I was like, 'This is great.'"

"First of all, they're helping me do it," Weymar said. "Second of all, there's something's happening here. We're actually talking about politics, and we're talking about politics in a personal way, and we're getting to know each other, and we're laughing, even though these things are really awful."

This reminds me of the political organizing (and political change) that happened when textile factories brought women together in the early 20th century. It's a lot easier to build political power when people get to know each other in person, get talking and trusting.

Why have Evangelical churches become so politically powerful? In part, it's because they create a forum where people meet every week (or more, if you're going to the evening Sunday service and Wednesday Bible study), get to know and trust each other, develop a common understanding of the world.
posted by clawsoon at 11:49 AM on September 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

(More on that theme: Remember the Amazon worker FPPs? A big goal of Amazon is to make sure that its employees don't connect like this, because they know that connections like this lead to political power, and they don't want their employees to gain that power.)
posted by clawsoon at 11:54 AM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

Tiny pricks is a fantastic name though.

No it isn't. It's 2019, do we really still have to be making fun of people's bodies?
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:36 PM on September 7, 2019 [4 favorites]

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but when I hear "tiny prick" in this context I don't automatically imagine Trump's genitalia (and thank god for small mercies). Similarly, I don't imagine the rectums of people referred to as "assholes".

Would referring to Trump as a "big dick" be an acceptable compromise?
posted by she's not there at 10:26 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Omg - I just realized it's Tiny Pricks (plural) - you know, for the needlework.

I swear, I used to be so much quicker on the uptake.
posted by she's not there at 10:33 PM on September 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm unimpressed by all y'all telling me that I'm protesting wrong. It's possible to embroider and protest and organize, but once again whatever women do, we're doing it wrong.

I regret that I have but one favorite to give to this comment. The sneering at the fiber artists in this thread reminds me a lot of the shitty naysaying around the Women’s March: “But it’s not dooooooooing anythiiiiiiiing!!” Really? You think that people knot that last thread and think, “Well, nothing more to do here! Problem solved!” That’s not how this works.
posted by corey flood at 8:32 AM on September 8, 2019 [5 favorites]

"Tiny Pricks " puts me in mind of death by a thousand cuts. Or possibly voodoo. I don't think any one believes their samplers fix the problem but contributing to a culture of calling this corruption by its name, wherever and whenever you can, is not for nothing
posted by crush at 12:27 PM on September 8, 2019 [7 favorites]

This is my first entry in the Tiny Pricks Project (my photo of it is better than the one on the official Instagram feed). Among the many "nasty woman" and "stable genius" projects (and I'm good with those, believe me), I may be the only one to address the transgender military ban.

My second project, currently in the works, is also about the ban, and the lies employed to uphold it. Got a third one in the planning stage about the rollback of energy-efficient light bulb standards. These are the things I want highlighted and remembered.
posted by dlugoczaj at 6:46 AM on September 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

"We were actually paying attention to what he was saying, but we were also processing how we felt about it," she continued. "And I was like, 'This is great.'"

"First of all, they're helping me do it," Weymar said. "Second of all, there's something's happening here. We're actually talking about politics, and we're talking about politics in a personal way, and we're getting to know each other, and we're laughing, even though these things are really awful."

This was the observation that clinched it for me. I can always be more open and emotional when I have something to distract me a bit - driving and talking to a person in a car, watching TV, crafternoons... It just peels away an outer layer and I always find it rewarding.
posted by bendy at 8:50 PM on September 9, 2019 [2 favorites]