“Connections and community is what can really save the world and turn the world around, and I think art and art and crafts are such amazing ways of breaking down barriers to communications and they are amazing ways of bringing people together” - Elena Lo Presti, Founder, Creative and Managing Director of Craft Forward – an organisation that provides accessible, creative experiences for people across ages and backgrounds. Made with Care, the collection she curated for us, showcases projects that use art and creative expression for collective care.
“What I really loved about the collection is that work I picked talk about very deep and complicated concepts with such accessible materials like zine, publications, workshops and I think that is what makes something truly accessible.”
Craft Forward was also founded to extend care through arts and crafts, especially for those who may not have access to it. Elena was frustrated with the elitism in the art world and how it makes itself out of reach for people at the grassroots. With Craft Forward, she not only wanted to create an accessible space where people could learn but also provide a platform for them to come together, make connections and chat.
“There is this tendency in the art world of throwing out buzzwords like community, care, engagement. Community is not a buzzword community is people. Caring is an action,” she explained.
Care is at the centre of of Craft Forward and that is what she looked for while selecting projects for this collection. Where These Flowers Bloom by Ana Margarita Flores is a photographic series where Ana has explored her personal history and tried to repair her relationship with her Peruvian and Swiss identity which had been affected due to external signals to white European superiority and internalised racism.
“There was a care in how the community was portrayed in photography or how a specific marginalised community was talked about and I think the aspect of care was not only in how beautiful the work looked, but also in how thoughtful the research process was,” Elena commented.
Fashion Recipes For The Future by Hannah Lauren Riley presents an alternative way of experiencing and owning fashion to create a future where fashion has joy, inclusion and care. Hannah has built a framework which empowers people to challenge their relationship with fashion and the ecosystem, through dress-ups, imagination, play and speculation.
“These are the kind of creative learning approaches that can help us rethink about the fashion industry in a more inclusive and caring way.”
Care and accessibility go hand-in-hand and Ur Cool to Care by Hannah Cummings is a great example of that where Hannah explores the role of art, crafts and textiles in promoting wellbeing and reconnecting with yourself. She reinvents the traditional lookbook to create a tool to experience craft therapy methods.
“It’s exciting to see how a traditionally static and often inaccessible element like a lookbook becomes a prompt for play, self-connection, and a deeper connection with nature,” Elena explained why the project drew her attention.
All the projects in the collection disrupt and challenge the traditional norms which is reflective of Elena’s hope for the future of art.
“I wish somebody told me this when I graduated that you don’t have to follow a linear path. There is no linear career to art, and you can actually make art in so many different spaces and in so many different ways. You can make art everywhere. You should be open to possibilities, even if they don't look artistic enough, be open to possibilities because that's where real magic happens.”