Hands of Gold – Embroidery School for Ladies and Gents

Hands of Gold – Embroidery School for Ladies and Gents existed between 2014 and 2020. In October 2016, it changed its form and was no longer run by Monika Drożyńska, but the Hands of Gold Collective, to which the artist invited the School’s students. The group of teachers and the Hands of Gold Collective, included: Małgorzata Samborska, Małgo Grygierczyk, Ewa Rodzinka and Kuba Wesołowski, as well as Monika Drożyńska. The activities of the School remained the same: dissemination of traditional flat and cross-stitch techniques. We ran classes in embroidery and cross-stitch for beginners, as well as all those wishing to further explore the techniques of the craft.

The School also had a library and reading room. With a library card it was possible to borrow publications on the history and techniques of embroidery, zines acquired from the KŁAK Collective, as well as feminist and political literature. The most prominent item in the library’s assortment are embroidered banners.

Embroidered banners and embroidery activism is the second key activity of the Collective, following the continual running of the school and teaching activities. The first collaboratively embroidered banner “Myślę, czuję, decyduję” [I think, I feel, I decide] was created in 2016 for the Black Protest (Polish Women’s Strike).

Around sixty people, over a period of four hours, embroidered this slogan on an approximately eight-metre-long banner. It was the first in a series of “occupation embroidery sessions” – getting together to collaboratively embroider for specific occasions. The embroidered banners are a community asset, the Hands of Gold Collective and Hands of Gold – Embroidery School for Ladies and Gents only manage them. Between 2006 and 2021, six banners were created and used during strikes and protests in support of reproductive rights.