Genderpolitics in fabrics: the history and change of fibre art from theperspective of feminism

This article primarily looks at the evolution of textile practices from traditional domestic labour predominatly performed by women.It also studies how textiles have become an artistic and symbolic medium that expresses gender issues in a contemporary era. It reviews the history of how textile was integral to womens daily duty in Eastern cultures particularly in ancient China. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, women began to participate in textile manufacturing and played a major role in the field, signifying a shift from domestic to industrial labour and expanding their social roles. In the 1970s, due to a variety of social movements and growing attention of gender inequality in academic world, education institutions like the Bauhaus started to offer fibre art programs, providing female with more possibilities to access to creative and technical learning. Since then, fiber art also gained visibility as a form of feminist expression. Fiber art is a medium that helps women turn textile work into an art genre. This shift not only challenges conventional boundaries between craft and fine art but also encourages more woman to use fiber art to talk about their lives and gender roles in a society. The article follows these changes to show fiber art that not only helped women speak up through their work, but also displays a process of gender movements throughout its development.