Bed-in at The Bluecoat

“Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton, talking in our beds for a week, the newspapers say,’ what’re you doing in bed? I said ‘we’re only trying to get us some peace.”

(The Ballad of John and Yoko,The Beatles, 1969)

Liverpool City Council is hosting a John Lennon tribute season to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Named 'Bed- In', after John and Yoko’s famous bed-held protests, the exhibition celebrates John Lennon’s seventieth birthday and will be holding different events ‘in bed’ throughout October.

One of these is …and sew to bed. Collaborating with the West Everton Community Council (WCC) and One World Week, Craftivist Collective (a group of craft-expressive activists), are hand- making a quilt to adorn bed and make their protest against inequality.

Craftivists began in 2008, with the manifesto, "To expose the scandal of global poverty, and human rights injustices though the power of craft and public art. This will be done through provocative, non-violent creative actions, with the aim to show people that raising awareness of the injustices and poverty in the world can be fun, fulfilling and can build friendships all over the world. It doesn’t have to be stressful or elitist. Anyone can be a Craftivist whatever their skill or
understanding."

Founded by Sarah Corbett, an activist burnt out on the frustration and sometimes aggressive approach of established activists organisations, she filtered her protests in to a new found love for craft. The accompanying blog took off and has gained a cult following as it works on raising awareness about inequality and injustice on an international scale. This exhibition is a chance for WCC to voice local concerns, whilst the Craftivist team will be voicing global issues through their creations. The patches created for the quilt will be cross-stitched, painted or sewn to expresses relevant quotes and statistics on international inequality.

To help the Craftivists and to have your patch hand sewn and exhibited at the Bluecoat Project, create your message - be it an inspirations quote (please credit the source), a statistic or a personal message on a 7” x 7” patch of fabric and send a photo to Sarah Corbett.

For more information join the Facebook event group for "…and sew to bed."

Bed-In
October 9th – December 9th 2010,
The ‘Hub’ at Blue Coat Gallery,
School Lane,
Liverpool.

For tickets and further information please visit:

http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/content/view/215/