Ila Ananya
There’s a shortage of pink yarn in the United States.
This is absolutely exciting news, because women from all over the country (and others, as this map shows), have been using pink yarn to knit pink ‘pussyhats’ for everyone attending the Women’s March on Washington on 21st January.
Screenwriter Krista Suh and architect Jayna Zweiman launched The Pussyhat Project back in November 2016. Their goal? To make 1.17 million bright pink cat-eared “pussy” hats to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration. They want to “make a unique collective visual statement which will help activists be better heard” with a sea of pink of different shades. Of course, the name pussyhat is also a reference to Trump’s disgusting comments when he said, “you can do anything” to women, including “grab them by the pussy.”
The project has called on people all over the world to knit their own pink hats (or a bunch) that they could wear to the march themselves, and give to other marchers. People who live in other countries and can’t attend the march but are there in spirit, have been encouraged to make and send the pink hats to The Pussyhat Project in solidarity. They’ll be distributed among the marchers. If you don’t know how to make one and really want to, there are also videos showing you how.
Apart from referencing Trump’s statement, the hats have other meanings. The founders of the project have said, “Pink is considered a very female colour representing caring, compassion, and love — all qualities that have been derided as weak but are actually strong. Wearing pink together is a powerful statement that we are unapologetically feminine and we unapologetically stand for women’s rights.” But more interestingly than this, there have also been conversations about knitting and crochet circles (traditionally considered as women’s crafts) as a space where women interact with, talk to, and support other women. And the founders also say, “Anything handmade shows a level of care, and we care about women’s rights, so it is appropriate to symbolise this march with a handmade item.”
Apart from the pussyhats, there are also going to be ‘We the People’ posters by Shepard Fairey (he’d made Obama’s ‘Hope’ piece), Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena. According to Bust, they’ve planned to get these posters to as many people as possible by taking out full-page ads in the Washington Post on 20th January, so that protestors can just tear them out of the newspaper and use them. There are also going to be thousands of colourful pins for the march, designed by ‘Pincause’, founded by Kate and Nate, and a percentage of these proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Indira Cesarine, a multimedia artist who started the gallery Untitled Space, has also created a new gallery exhibit ‘Uprise/Angry Women’ that features over 80 female identifying artists protesting Trump’s presidency.