The Power of the Needle

In the café at ARKIVET hangs a collection of embroideries made by women who participated in the embroidery workshop Nålens makt (The Power of the Needle). The installation is presented alongside a film about the project and a tablecloth from ARKIVET’s collection.

A Story of Identity, Resistance, and Cultural Heritage

The project began in January 2019 with a series of embroidery workshops over a period of six weeks. The workshops brought together women with refugee and migration backgrounds and women from the local community. The women were tasked with collaboratively embroidering a motif that expressed something about their identity and cultural heritage.

The embroidery installation is made up of all these individual pieces. The Power of the Needle is about empowering women’s self-awareness, reintroducing embroidery as a form of expression, and demonstrating its significance.

“All you need is a needle, a thread, and a story.”

Nålens makt was a project organized by Flyktninger forteller (Refugees Tell) at ARKIVET Peace and Human Rights Center.

In collaboration with:

Norges Husflidslag (Norwegian Crafts Association)
KIA-kompetanse Kristiansand

Supported by:

Gjensidigestiftelsen
Kulturrådet (Arts Council Norway)
Vest-Agder fylkeskommune (Vest-Agder County Municipality)

See The Power of the Needle as a digital exhibition.