Katrina Majkut
The series In Control rejects the stereotypical domestic functionality of samplers. Historically, embroidery prepared women for marriage. Samplers represented domestic skill levels and specific cultural and religious values to potential husbands who sought a woman with the right skills to establish a household – make clothes, darn socks. Cross-stitch was used to advertise and represent womanhood, wifedom and motherhood but bodily functions, autonomy and diverse lifestyles was not part of this textile practice. The “domestic craft” of In Control attempts to directly challenge this by attempting to stitch all life-sized products related to women’s health and needs with a fully comprehensive, bipartisan and medically honest approach.