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Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Stitchpunk: Infused -apractice of soft invasions with textile and sculpture artist @liactuallee —rooted in textile futures, speculative ecologies, labour, identity, and soft resistance.

The publication became an extension of the world Li has been building through yarn, stitching, research notes, and storytelling — translating tactile, fluid sculptural forms into a hand-printed object that feels intimate, layered, and historical. Inspired by Essen and Gelsenkirchen in Germany, a region once known for its coal-mining past and now rediscovering itself through art, culture, and community.

A collaborative process of weaving together graphic design, photography, archives, process material, physical sketches, and evolving thoughts, holding both vulnerability and experimentation across its pages.

We’d like to thank all the fine folks in Gelsenkirchen and at Folkwang University of the Arts for their support, and everyone who made us feel so welcome throughout the project and exhibition.

Grateful to have shaped this alongside ✨ @liactuallee @folkwang_id @readymade.books
#artistzine #layoutdesign #communityproject #artistbooks

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

Surfacing, 2025
Cotton yarn, polyfill, velcro, buttons, MDF board.
______________
Inspired by the ever-changing palette of water as one moves from surface to depth, this kinetic sculpture becomes a choreography of suspended forms. Shifting hues mirror the journey from sunlight-warmed shallows to the hushed twilight blues of the deep. Each element is designed for sensory engagement—inviting breath, memory, and touch.

Drawing from the primal waters of the womb to the infinite body of the ocean, the work meditates on cycles of emergence and submersion. Movement is gentle, tidal—honoring both the buoyant grace of the swimmer and the drifting stillness of deep water. With a nod to Chihuly’s Atlantis Sealife Tower, this sculpture reimagines aquatic wonder through sof forms that hover and sway, whispering of beginnings, of breath held and released, of the quiet between waves.

_______________

Artwork commission by @synapsequence
For @anicamann
@loam.story @methodindia

_____________
#artofchildhood #humanmade #crochet #mobile #sensory #fiberart #chihuly #softsculpture #contemporary #queetartist #colorful #hanging #sculpture #forkids

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

IAF 2025 - A few favourite moments from the journey of developing an artwork for India Art Fair 2025. Installation artwork by @liactuallee. Supported by @indiaartfair Artist-in-Residence Programme and @soultree.in

Transmutations weaves overlooked materials and the tactile practice of crochet into a textured meditation on care, labor, and future visions.

This outdoor installation uses discarded plastics and fabrics to reflect on the transformative power of imagination, and the ecological future of our planet. The canopy evokes the landscapes of the Nilgiri Hills, created in collaboration with the Women’s Strength community, which empowers local women through skill building. Pools of softness invite visitors to pause, rest, and reflect amidst the chaos of life.

Project management @cabein Artwork by @liactuallee.
Big big thank yous to all the volunteers and the team @indiaartfair. @umahjacob @rheas.home @farhatkhan11 & @milanofication
#installation #indiaartfair2025 #outdoorinstallation #emergingartist

Stitchpunk: Infused
zine, 2025
_______________
During my three-month residency at Folkwang University, I collected a tapestry of experiences that continue to resonate with me. This zine encapsulates my journey, featuring research notes, personal narratives, quiet observations, and half-formed ideas that emerged along the way. It also includes a few peculiar objects that became small anchors for my thoughts. Together, these fragments reveal the evolving architecture of a practice that is constantly in motion and transformation.

Written, created, and printed @sbyd.space @folkwang_uni
_______________
Full zine available on my website 🔗

#zine #residency #textileart #labourasresource #stitchpunk #marx #blackberry #internationalartist
#indiepublishing #sustaibility

Stitchpunk: Infused
zine, 2025
_______________
During my three-month residency at Folkwang University, I collected a tapestry of experiences that continue to resonate with me. This zine encapsulates my journey, featuring research notes, personal narratives, quiet observations, and half-formed ideas that emerged along the way. It also includes a few peculiar objects that became small anchors for my thoughts. Together, these fragments reveal the evolving architecture of a practice that is constantly in motion and transformation.

Written, created, and printed @sbyd.space @folkwang_uni
_______________
Full zine available on my website 🔗

#zine #residency #textileart #labourasresource #stitchpunk #marx #blackberry #internationalartist
#indiepublishing #sustaibility

Stitchpunk: Infused
zine, 2025
_______________
During my three-month residency at Folkwang University, I collected a tapestry of experiences that continue to resonate with me. This zine encapsulates my journey, featuring research notes, personal narratives, quiet observations, and half-formed ideas that emerged along the way. It also includes a few peculiar objects that became small anchors for my thoughts. Together, these fragments reveal the evolving architecture of a practice that is constantly in motion and transformation.

Written, created, and printed @sbyd.space @folkwang_uni
_______________
Full zine available on my website 🔗

#zine #residency #textileart #labourasresource #stitchpunk #marx #blackberry #internationalartist
#indiepublishing #sustaibility

Stitchpunk: Infused
zine, 2025
_______________
During my three-month residency at Folkwang University, I collected a tapestry of experiences that continue to resonate with me. This zine encapsulates my journey, featuring research notes, personal narratives, quiet observations, and half-formed ideas that emerged along the way. It also includes a few peculiar objects that became small anchors for my thoughts. Together, these fragments reveal the evolving architecture of a practice that is constantly in motion and transformation.

Written, created, and printed @sbyd.space @folkwang_uni
_______________
Full zine available on my website 🔗

#zine #residency #textileart #labourasresource #stitchpunk #marx #blackberry #internationalartist
#indiepublishing #sustaibility

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Residency project: STITCHPUNK: INFUSED – Li Actuallee⁠
⁠
Developed by Li Actuallee during their SBYD Textile Residency, STITCHPUNK: INFUSED explores labour as a form of knowledge, which is an overlooked resource in conversations about sustainability. Although ⁠
environmental narratives emphasise materials, they rarely acknowledge the bodies that gather, spin, dye, stitch and transport them. ⁠
Li Actuallee’s work reveals this invisible labour.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting techniques, as well as hand-built tools that ⁠
deposit charcoal, pastel or ink, the textiles become records of gesture, ⁠
fatigue, rhythm and interruption. Each mark is a trace of the body in time. The works unfold in ‚craft time‘: slow, non-linear and resistant to productivity norms. They are shaped by rest, repetition and emotional endurance.⁠
⁠
Drawing on Marx‘s writings about alienated labour and contemporary ⁠
critiques of craft economies, the project reflects on how craft workers ⁠
today must commodify both their identity and their time. By combining soft textile techniques with pigments that reference industrial labour, the work challenges the boundaries between ‚hard‘ and ‚soft‘, manual and emotional, and personal and political.⁠
⁠
Stitchpunk insists that labour remains visible – stained, ⁠
marked and embodied.⁠
⁠
The work was presented at Museum Folkwang.⁠
⁠
-⁠
⁠
This residency was part of SBYD, through which Folkwang University awards grants to international artists and designers invited to Essen to realise their own projects on site. In 2025, the programme’s third round was announced in India. In collaboration with Museum Folkwang and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.⁠
⁠
@liactuallee @museum_folkwang @folkwang_id @goetheinstitut_bangalore @folkwang_uni⁠
⁠
Photos: Katharina Ley ⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortech #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule⁠

Last days of summer, September 2025. During my residency @sbyd.space @folkwang_uni
_______________
"I have had a strange relationship with public space since arriving in Germany, as expected for anything romanticized from far away. There is a sense of privilege in being able to wander freely, to experience long walks and small moments of solitude. Yet these experiences are tinted with resentment and a quiet envy, because back in Mumbai I do not have access to quiet, natural, wild spaces that I can move through without fear or performance. Here, the landscape invites a kind of soft attention. At home, that attention collapses under vigilance. "

- excerpt from "unripe, adolescent, tart and sour",
full essay available in my new zine, available on my freshly updated website 🍋
_______________
#artistinresidence #textiledesigner #sustainability #industrialdesign #university #academia #forest #publicspace #personal #essay #newzine #greenspace #longwalks #cleanair #gelsenkirchen #mumbai #hazardous

As the holiday season wraps up, here's some gratitude for the humans that make me feel seen, cared for, and warm. Thank you for the endless family meals this season, and the booming laughter from the rooms we occupy.

To another year, of choosing community, creativity and light. 🥂

Photos from my archives, when the humans I call family visited my installation @museumofsolutions. They fully embraced their inner child energies, exploring the museum through curiosity.

When work and life collide 💕

_________________

#holidayseason #familytime #chosenfamily #queerkinship #transmutations #installationart #sustaibility #plasticyarn #2026 #anotheryear #community #love #restisradical

As the holiday season wraps up, here's some gratitude for the humans that make me feel seen, cared for, and warm. Thank you for the endless family meals this season, and the booming laughter from the rooms we occupy.

To another year, of choosing community, creativity and light. 🥂

Photos from my archives, when the humans I call family visited my installation @museumofsolutions. They fully embraced their inner child energies, exploring the museum through curiosity.

When work and life collide 💕

_________________

#holidayseason #familytime #chosenfamily #queerkinship #transmutations #installationart #sustaibility #plasticyarn #2026 #anotheryear #community #love #restisradical

As the holiday season wraps up, here's some gratitude for the humans that make me feel seen, cared for, and warm. Thank you for the endless family meals this season, and the booming laughter from the rooms we occupy.

To another year, of choosing community, creativity and light. 🥂

Photos from my archives, when the humans I call family visited my installation @museumofsolutions. They fully embraced their inner child energies, exploring the museum through curiosity.

When work and life collide 💕

_________________

#holidayseason #familytime #chosenfamily #queerkinship #transmutations #installationart #sustaibility #plasticyarn #2026 #anotheryear #community #love #restisradical

As the holiday season wraps up, here's some gratitude for the humans that make me feel seen, cared for, and warm. Thank you for the endless family meals this season, and the booming laughter from the rooms we occupy.

To another year, of choosing community, creativity and light. 🥂

Photos from my archives, when the humans I call family visited my installation @museumofsolutions. They fully embraced their inner child energies, exploring the museum through curiosity.

When work and life collide 💕

_________________

#holidayseason #familytime #chosenfamily #queerkinship #transmutations #installationart #sustaibility #plasticyarn #2026 #anotheryear #community #love #restisradical

As the holiday season wraps up, here's some gratitude for the humans that make me feel seen, cared for, and warm. Thank you for the endless family meals this season, and the booming laughter from the rooms we occupy.

To another year, of choosing community, creativity and light. 🥂

Photos from my archives, when the humans I call family visited my installation @museumofsolutions. They fully embraced their inner child energies, exploring the museum through curiosity.

When work and life collide 💕

_________________

#holidayseason #familytime #chosenfamily #queerkinship #transmutations #installationart #sustaibility #plasticyarn #2026 #anotheryear #community #love #restisradical

We have a very exciting event coming up soon!⁠
⁠
This Thursday, 11 December, our current Artists/Designers-in-Residence @licatuallee & @vinaykhare_ will present the final outcome of their @sbyd.space residency at @museum_folkwang in Essen!⁠
⁠
Li Actuallee will present a work on the topic of textiles, while Vinay Khare will present a project in the field of tech.⁠
⁠

11 - 14 December
Gartensaal
Museum Folkwang⁠
Museumsplatz 1⁠
45128 Essen⁠
⁠
Opening & Artist Talk:
11 December, 6 PM

See you there!⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #textiles #tech #residency #innovativehochschule

We have a very exciting event coming up soon!⁠
⁠
This Thursday, 11 December, our current Artists/Designers-in-Residence @licatuallee & @vinaykhare_ will present the final outcome of their @sbyd.space residency at @museum_folkwang in Essen!⁠
⁠
Li Actuallee will present a work on the topic of textiles, while Vinay Khare will present a project in the field of tech.⁠
⁠

11 - 14 December
Gartensaal
Museum Folkwang⁠
Museumsplatz 1⁠
45128 Essen⁠
⁠
Opening & Artist Talk:
11 December, 6 PM

See you there!⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #textiles #tech #residency #innovativehochschule

We have a very exciting event coming up soon!⁠
⁠
This Thursday, 11 December, our current Artists/Designers-in-Residence @licatuallee & @vinaykhare_ will present the final outcome of their @sbyd.space residency at @museum_folkwang in Essen!⁠
⁠
Li Actuallee will present a work on the topic of textiles, while Vinay Khare will present a project in the field of tech.⁠
⁠

11 - 14 December
Gartensaal
Museum Folkwang⁠
Museumsplatz 1⁠
45128 Essen⁠
⁠
Opening & Artist Talk:
11 December, 6 PM

See you there!⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #textiles #tech #residency #innovativehochschule

We have a very exciting event coming up soon!⁠
⁠
This Thursday, 11 December, our current Artists/Designers-in-Residence @licatuallee & @vinaykhare_ will present the final outcome of their @sbyd.space residency at @museum_folkwang in Essen!⁠
⁠
Li Actuallee will present a work on the topic of textiles, while Vinay Khare will present a project in the field of tech.⁠
⁠

11 - 14 December
Gartensaal
Museum Folkwang⁠
Museumsplatz 1⁠
45128 Essen⁠
⁠
Opening & Artist Talk:
11 December, 6 PM

See you there!⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #textiles #tech #residency #innovativehochschule

Stitchpunk Infused: Experiments in Time and Making⁠
November 23 (this Sunday), 11 AM – 1 PM⁠
Irgenddorf/Readymade, Gelsenkirchen⁠
⁠
A participatory textile workshop facilitated by Liactuallee.⁠
⁠
Extending Li’s ongoing research as a textile resident at SBYD.SPACE (@sbyd.space)/ Folkwang University of the Arts (@folkwang_uni ), this session forms part of the broader Stitchpunk Manifesto framework. Together, we’ll explore labour, time, and the maker’s body through experimental textile gestures – creating small material studies that make visible the invisible labour embedded in craft.⁠
This is an invitation to move slowly, to attend to gesture, tension, and rhythm – the quiet politics of making by hand.⁠
⁠
For: Crocheters and knitters with existing technical fluency (not a beginner session). The atmosphere will be slow, reflective, and hands-on – ideal for experienced makers or anyone thinking deeply about craft, labour, and the body.

Want to join us? Please DM me to sign up.

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Some more insights into the working process and research of our designer-in-residence @liactuallee, currently holding the residency in the field of Textile:⁠
⁠
STITCHPUNK: INFUSED⁠
/ LABOUR AS RESOURCE⁠
/ STITCHPUNK STUDIES⁠
⁠
How can the labour of making be made visible?⁠
This project investigates labour as a resource—an often-erased component of sustainability discourse. Environmental narratives frequently prioritize material sustainability, but rarely acknowledge the human bodies required to harvest, spin, dye, stitch, and ship those materials.⁠
⁠
Using crochet and knitting, Li developed tools that deposit pigment during the process of making: a charcoal-coated finger sock, a crochet hook combined with a watercolor brush, bead-based markers of bodily interruption. These devices produce textiles that record tension, gesture, and fatigue, functioning as embodied data. The stitch is no longer neutral—it becomes a trace of time passing through the body.⁠
This research also challenges the idea of efficiency. Craft labour operates in what queer and disability theorists call ‘crip time’—a temporal model that rejects capitalist productivity. Instead of measuring value by speed, Li's work asks: What other units could register labour? Rest? Repetition? Emotional endurance?⁠
Drawing from Marx’s writing on alienated labour, in which the worker becomes estranged from the object they produce, Their work also engages with contemporary critiques of craft economies. Michele Krugh notes how craft has become ‘highly individualized, flexible labour,’ while Nicole Dawkins writes that today’s crafters must brand and sell their own identities to survive.⁠
By integrating coal dust—referencing masculinized industrial labour—into soft textile forms, the work also unsettles gendered divisions between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ labour.⁠
Stitchpunk does not hide labour. It stains it, marks it. It insists to remain visible.⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: @liactuallee / @sbyd.space⁠
⁠
⁠
#sustainabilitybydesign #sbyd #spacefortextiles #residency #designresearch #innovativehochschule

Stitchpunk Infused: Experiments in Time and Making⁠
November 23 (Sunday), 11 AM – 1 PM⁠
Irgenddorf/Readymade, Gelsenkirchen⁠
⁠
A participatory textile workshop facilitated by Liactuallee.⁠
⁠
Extending Li’s ongoing research as a textile resident at SBYD.SPACE / Folkwang University of the Arts, this session forms part of the broader Stitchpunk Manifesto framework. Together, we’ll explore labour, time, and the maker’s body through experimental textile gestures – creating small material studies that make visible the invisible labour embedded in craft.⁠
This is an invitation to move slowly, to attend to gesture, tension, and rhythm – the quiet politics of making by hand.⁠
⁠
For: Crocheters and knitters with existing technical fluency (not a beginner session). The atmosphere will be slow, reflective, and hands-on – ideal for experienced makers or anyone thinking deeply about craft, labour, and the body.

Dive into the colourful world of Li and catch a glimpse of their practice and how it has developed over the years.

A small snippet from their studio as they weavestories and anecdotes into something more tangible.

Tune in to listen!

#liactuallee #contemporaryart #softsculpture #art #artiststudio #indianartist #galleryexhibition #eikowaart #eikowacontemporary