QUEERING RAVELRY
Leathermen are icons of cultural masculinity, an image of dangerous rebelliousness, and in the 1950’s it was exactly that image, which turned motorcycle clubs into sanctuarys for gay men not wanting to be perceived as effeminate.
Knitting used to be for everyone, until the industrialisation of textile production made hand-knitting seen as an amateur feminine pursuit to be followed safely from within the cage of domesticity.
The knitted harnesses are not meant to be a direct undoing of gender, but more a misquotation of the norm of the leather harness as we know it from the pictures of Tom of Finland, to emphasise how gender norms are linked to how we as individuals choose to perform them, and work as a recognition of gender as a social construct.
Accompanying the harnesses is a research book telling the story of knitting and how it has been used to send powerful messages through time, visiting people like Danish knit rebel Lærke Bagger and the character Sarah Lund from the tv-hit “Forbrydelsen” whose sweater became more recognizeable than the characther herself.
And lastly the Leathermen, and how they made their way into popular culture.
