craftivist
rabble rouser
Casey Jenkins is a Melbourne-based installation and durational/community-engagement performance artist. Her work explores social and institutional power dynamics, and notions of intimacy, temporality and identity, with a particular focus on feminism and gender. Jenkins’ work ranges from meditative to disruptive, and has been presented in traditional, non-traditional, and new-media art spaces, engaging audiences and collaborators locally and worldwide. Combining tactility with technology, craft with performance, her work ranges from minimalist solo durational performances, to pieces that deliberately toy with (and aim to redefine) power structures via street art and experimental group performance. In rallying crews of people to co-create with, Jenkins often seeks to destabilise ideas of art authorship. They co-founded radical craft groups Craft Cartel and Knit Your Revolt, subverting and honouring art techniques often disparaged as ‘women’s work’ with street art and group workshops, have produced women-only biff-fest Femme Fight Club in Melbourne, Bristol and Berlin and founded Australian branch of French satirical bearded feminist group La Barbe. TV footage of their 2013 work, Casting Off My Womb, has been viewed over 7.5 million times online and featured in media worldwide. Their practice has been the focus of numerous chapters in art books and journal articles. Recent works have been shown at the Venice International Performance Art Week, London Science Gallery and SomoS gallery, Berlin.
Casey Jenkins | CV
Education
2018-19 Master of Contemporary Art, Victorian College of the Arts – First Class Honours
1998 Princes Hill Secondary College, Australia
Art & Social Advocacy Collectives | founder/co-founder
Craft Cartel Radical craft posse ‘for crafty types who don’t dig rose-scented doilies’, 2009-present
Femme Fight Club Women’s only strictly non-spectator art-bash, breaking stereotypes, not bones, 2010-present
Expen$$$ive All-femme, famous, gaymous supergroup, music-free since 2014
Knit Your Revolt Nation-wide craftivist gang sticking their needles to extreme conservatism, 2013-2016
La Barbe Australia Aussie branch of French satirical feminist activist group, 2012-2013
Live Art | solo work/primary artist
2020-21 IMMACULATE, live art initially presented at Vitalstatistix Adhocracy and ongoing
The Artist is Isolated, performance adapted for Covid-19 lockdown, Cuerpas Internacional, Santiago
2019 The Artist is Distracted, long-form participatory performance in collaboration with Ottilie Sh, VCA Masters
Graduation, Awarded George Hicks Foundation Award – presented remotely for Cuerpas Internacional, 2020
True Colours | True Colors durational performance, Dark Horse Experiment Gallery, Melbourne
Drawn and Halved performance, LAPSody festival, Uniarts Theatre Academy, Helsinki
Broken and re-made, time stretches across my lives and my thighs, piercing me with splendour video performance
Pockmark Exhibition, LiVid art collective, Bangkok Art Week
2018 Where do I begin? Where do I end? (Maternal Distress) performance, Feminist Artists Anonymous, KINGS ARI, Melbourne
2017 Waste Not, 6hr performance/installation, The Beholder, SomoS Gallery, Berlin
Bye-bye, baby, endurance performance, Horizons, Midsumma Festival, Melbourne
2016 sMother, 5 day performance/installation, Venice International Performance Art Week, Venice
Programmed to Reproduce, 7 day performance/installation, Festival of Live Art, Melbourne
2015 Body of Work, 3 week performance/installation, Dark Horse Experiment Gallery and online, Melbourne
2013 Casting Off My Womb, 28 day performance/installation, Darwin Visual Arts Association, Darwin
Exhibitions
2022 Cycle 3 in S MOM Uncensorable, Kaunas – Vienna – Berlin
2022 Body of Work – Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Korea
2022 Specimen 7 – Sydney Contemporary Art Fair
2021 Maternal Distress in S MOM Extended Bodies, Meno Parkas Galerija, Kaunas – Vienna – Berlin
2019 Blanket of Shame, Mother Art Prize, Mimosa House, London
2018 Growing Change #metoo #notme, installation, Queer Threads, Assembly Point, Melbourne
2017 Bad Blood, installation, Blood: Life Uncut, London Science Gallery, London
2016 Give us a smile,sweetheart, knitted work, Meridian Midsumma Visual Art Exhibit, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne
2015 Attention Whore, knitted work, f generations: feminism, art, progressions, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
2012 Femme Fight, photograph documentation, Ladyfest Paris, EspaceB, Paris
2010-15 Cunt Fling-Ups, feminist street art, numerous locations; Melbourne, New York, Paris, Berlin, Vatican City
2010 Crocheted Explosives & Children Overboard embroidery, We Craft This City, Object Gallery, Sydney
Community Art/Activism | primary artist/producer
2017 Lady Blizzard, community art workshops and exhibition at Neighbourhood Justice Centre, Melbourne
Hidden Agenda, curation of 18 local and international visual and performance artists and workshops,
Trocadero Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Foot-Hold street-craft, workshops and exhibition for young people of recent migrant and refugee backgrounds, SIGNAL, Melbourne
2013 Knit Your Revolt Anti-Misogyny banner, multiple workshops and installations: Melbourne, Hobart, Perth, Wagga Wagga, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney
2012 Knitted Genitalia & Femme Fight, workshops and performance, Feast Fest, Adelaide
Radical Crochet & Femme Fight, workshops and performance, Bristol Biennial Community Arts Festival, Bristol
2011-17 Femme Fight Club, 12 x performance/happenings: Edinburgh Gardens, Melbourne; Trocadero Gallery, Melbourne;
Bristol Biennial Community Art Festival, Bristol; FEAST Festival, Adelaide; Görlitzer Park, Berlin
2009-10 Trashbag Rehab, numerous craftivist workshops, parks, pubs & galleries, Melbourne
Presentations and Panels
2022 Queer Motherhood, SMom, Kuanas, Lithuania
2021 Seeing Queerly: Art & Queer Representation, RMIT, Melbourne
2020 Feminist Writers Festival, Melbourne
2019 Art & Activism, Sunshine Coast Creative Alliance, Sunshine Coast
2018 International Women’s Day, Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2014 AGDA A20 Awards (Presenter), MONA, Hobart; Dream Big Conference (Presenter), Narrandera, NSW; Feminism & Practice, Cherchez La Femme, Melboure; Art & The Body, Festival of Live Art, Wheeler Centre, Melbourne
Media and Publications | select
Film & TV
The Quiet Rebel, Feature documentary, France/US, 2018, Winner Best Independent European Documentary, European Independent Film Festival, 2019 & Jury Award at FilmArte Madrid, 2019
Fear of the Female, Art Bites documentary, ABC iView, 2017
The Feed 3rd Anniversary Special, SBS2, 2016
Why Casey Jenkins Is Knitting Your Online Abuse, ABC, 2016
Intimate Knitting, The Doctors, CBS (USA), 2014
Knitting With A Difference, 3News (NZ), 2014
Vaginal Knitting, SBS2, 2013
Knit Your Revolt, Southern Cross Evening News, 2013
Passionate Knitters, WIN Evening News, 2013
Making It Handmade, (full length documentary), ABC2, 2012
Guerrilla Craft, Sunday Arts, ABC, 2009
Audio
Fairy, B. Interview with Casey Jenkins, Sleeptalker, RRR, April 11, 2019
Spencer, M. Episode 9 Casey Jenkins, Auspicious Plastic (podcast), Dec 5 2017
Oriogun-Williams, F. and Krish, J. What happens when we talk about periods, Science Gallery London (podcast), Jul 2017
Moodie, G. Knitting a response to gendered abuse, Radio National Books & Arts. ABC national radio broadcast, Mar 12, 2016
Cathcart, M. Casey Jenkins’ Body of Work Radio National Books & Arts. ABC national radio broadcast, Apr 9, 2015
Donisthorpe, S. Is Vaginal Knitting Art? Radio National Books & Arts, ABC national radio broadcast, Dec 9, 2013
Thomas, J, Interview with Casey Jenkins Jay Thomas Program, USA: SiriusXM national radio broadcast, Dec 5, 2013
Text | Art Books
Kontturi, K. “Craft, Collectivity and Event-Time” in Craft Economies: Cultural Economies of the Handmade, eds. Luckman, S. & Thomas, N. 42-44. Bloomsbury Academic, UK, 2018
Vannier, C. Ceci n’est pas un pull – Le tricot et le crochet dans l’art contemporain, 206-211, Pyramid Editions, France, 2017
Emery, E. “From Stitching by Candlelight to Crafting Online: Textiles, self-representations and continuing histories of subversive stitches” in Cut Cloth- Contemporary Textiles and Feminism, ed. Ford, S. PO Publications, UK, 2017
Stenke, V. and Pagnes, A. eds. Fragile Body – Material Body: Venice International Performance Art Week III, 194. Vest & Page Press, Venice, 2017
Greer, B. Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism. 116-123. Arsenal Pulp Press, USA, 2014
Text | Journal Articles
Barbour, K., & Mansfield, L. Intersections between corporeal performance & distributed digital audiences: Casey Jenkins & remediated artistic practice, The Drama Review, 2019
Gauthier, R. L’art comme expérience informelle, texteimage – revue d’etude du dialogue texte-image, 2017
Stevens, L. Sometimes Uncomfortable, Sometimes Arousing’: The Slow Dramaturgy of Casey Jenkins’s Craftivist Performances, Theatre Research International, 2016
Clarke, K. Willful knitting? Contemporary Australian craftivism and feminist histories, Continuum Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 2016
Text | Key News Articles
Miller, N. Self-insemination artist sues ‘ethically suspect’ Australia Council, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr 28 2021
O’Sullivan, J. When making art becomes a family practice, Art Guide Australia, Issue 129, Jan/Feb 2021 (online Feb 18)
Stevens, L. Acts of intimate banality – Questioning the axing of Casey Jenkins’ grant, Australian Book Review, Dec 2020
D’Urso, S. Is sexual reproduction in art still taboo? The case of Casey Jenkins and the Australia Council, Overland, Nov 2 2020
Miller, N. Melbourne artist plans to self-inseminate for a lockdown livestream, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug 14 2020
Stephens, A. Can Casey Jenkins change her brain? Scans unlock a colourful secret, Sydney Morning Herald, Apr 5 2019
Harveston, K. 8 Subversive Women Artists to Know, BUST, USA, Mar 30, 2018
Ings, S. Bloody exhibition is only for the brave and the bold, New Scientist, UK, Oct 20 2017
Vulcan, J. Shifting Gravity’s Centre, RealTime, Feb-Mar 2017
Grant, M. Casey Jenkins’ Programmed To Reproduce Project Turns Online Harassment Into Art, Bustle, USA, Mar 8 2016
Cook, D. What happens when your life goes viral?…Casey Jenkins responds with new work, Sydney Morning Herald, Mar 1 2016
Sisley, D. The artist fighting internet trolls with her menstrual blood, DAZED, UK, Mar 1 2016
Jenkins, C. Why Casey Jenkins is vaginal knitting your online abuse into art, ABC News, Feb 28 2016
Frank, P. ‘Vaginal Knitting’ Artist Strikes Back At Haters In The Best Possible Way, Huffington Post, USA, Sep 24 2015
Voon, C. Artist Threads Angry Internet Comments into New Vaginal Knitting Project, Hyperallergic, USA, Sep 23 2015
Frank, P. You Can Hire This Performance Artist To Do Just About Anything…, Huffington Post, USA, Apr 7 2015
Christmass, P. Gun for Hire, Broadsheet, Apr 2 2015
Jenkins, C. I’m selling myself as art and you pick the price, but what is work anyway?, Guardian, Mar 16 2015
Malone, L. Artist Casey Jenkins Is Back And Open For Business, Vocativ, USA, Mar 14 2015
Bennett, A. So Expen$$$ive, So Gorgeous, TAR magazine, Italy, May 17 2014
Jenkins, C. I’m the ‘vaginal knitting’ performance artist, and I want to defend my work, The Guardian, Dec 17 2013
Morse, F. The reaction to my vaginal knitting shows society is still telling a woman what to do with her body, Independent, UK, Dec 17 2013
Solaro, A. Vagina knitting: l’arte del ricamo intimo, Marie Claire, Italy, Dec 12 2013
Malone, L. Meet the world’s most famous vaginal knitter, Salon, USA, Dec 8 2013
Rees, E. Casting off shame through vagina knitting, The Conversation, Dec 5 2013
Fromenty, H. A Female Matter, Broadsheet, May 24 2013