Malala Yousafzai

 Malala Yousafzai is a 16 year old Pakistani school pupil and education activist from the town Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's north western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her activism for rights to eductaion and for women, especially for where she lived, as the Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school school. At the age of 11, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC talking about her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for 22 girls. The New York Times created a documentary, filming her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, starting the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai willingly gave interviews in print and television, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by South African activist Desmond Tutu.

9th October 2012, Yousafzai boarded her school bus in her home town, where a gunman asked which one was Yousafzai and then shot her three times. For days she was in critical conditions and was unconscious, but it soon improved allowing her to be transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for intensive rehabilitation.  On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father.

The assassination attempt caused national and international support for Yousafzai. United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education launched a UN petition in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that every child worldwide would be in school by the end of 2015. Yousafzai was featured in Time Magazine, under as one of 'The 100 Most Influential People in the World'. She was also the winner of the first ever Pakistan's national Youth Peace Prize and was the youngest nominee for 2013 Noble Peace Prize.

From reading about Malala Yousafzai, I have learnt about the giant impact she has made on society and how she has helped in getting not only women in education, but all children around the world.

Learning the different ways of tying a head scarf

http://youtu.be/TcRWFEzrzMQ

I learnt from this video which was really good in what I needed.

I've tried all of them in my own hair, some working better than others.

There was a few issues such as my hair being too short for some and my scarf being either to small or too big. 

I'll have to try them out on a longer haired person and see how it works on them. 

John Galliano Scarves

Floral and Newsprint Silk Scarf

 On the TK Maxx website, I've come across scarves designed by John Galliano that include a design method I'm fond of: layering text and images. My reaction to this style is how I could apply it to my focus of feminism. I could use old and new articles talking about the development of feminism with a layer of iconic images over the top. I could also include prints and designs of some of my samples, including scans of my knitting (creating a texture). This method could obscure and portray all my thoughts and research onto one piece, also representing the achievements women have made towards equality. I also want to show the stereotypes of women and what they are expected of, and also what is the 'ideal' women?

Female scarves tend to have a feminine style to it (typically flowers). I could keep to the feminine theme, so at first glance you would see something like a floral print but up close is something unexpected (like the newsprint that is disguised by the flowers).

I could use an already made scarf and decorate it like Orly Cogan, and add objects similar to Caren Garfen's designs. Or I could knit a scarf and embroidery designs.

Newspaper Print Silk Scarf

The shape of the scarf when it is put on a body obscures the design making it unclear. The design would make people search through the scarf to try and understand it.

This scarf includes a floral design like the other one, but includes elements of lace on top of the newsprint.

Preti Veja and Weaving

Veja is a textile artist who focuses on working with weaving and structure.

She uses structure to shape her weaves into different shapes and forms to represent something. 

I found this method inspiring, as I wanted to recreate the flower, curved shape of Marilyn Monroe's white dress from 'The Seven Year Itch'. For creating structure and shape like her work, I used wire as a base and then wool for the texture.

Weaving is a very traditional method that has been round for centuries to create fabric. Usually it would be the woman's job to create fabric by using a loom. Looms have developed over the years, and have now become powered machines (like the knitting machines).

Orly Cogan

The Dinner Party

Caren Garfen