To sum it up, girdafi is the title of my protest yarnstorming against Gaddafi and beyond that injustice in Africa, problems that people in Europe tend to ignore and keep silent on. Topic and motivation
I chose this topic because I still have a bone to pick with Gaddafi. He is the murderer of my cousin Alexander Löwenstein who died at the age of 21 years in the Lockerbie air crash. My cousin was a
victim of terrorism, a tragedy for his loving family, a disaster of painful injustice which I won't let be forgotten. Especially now, after so many years when the people of Lybia are finally close to a shift and need all public support that they can get. The girdafi design
Girdafis remind the fur of a giraffe, showing a red pattern on a white surface. It is a somehow exclusive and luxurious design, an ornament that easily can be misused out of vain arrogance. Just like a certain ego dictator fancying trendy designer uniforms. Red is an intensive colour, alarming so it's hard to ignore and screaming because of its resemblence to blood. The girdafi-design intends to let people look up and see and remember in their peaceful everyday surrounding what is going on in another less fair part of this world. The medium of yarnstorming
Therefore yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, urban knitting or however you would call the installation of handmade pieces of crotching or knitting in public space is what I consider the perfect medium to transport the girdafi message, even though its textural cosiness shows a mere contrast. But isn't right this the nature of peaceful protest? If you're not a violent fighter, maybe wrapping cold bits of urban outdoor life is how to wake up sleepy eyes.
