On Tuesday, August 19th at 5:00 PM, the exhibition "Subversive Embroidery" by Tiina Sööt and Killu Sukmit will open in Pärnu City Gallery’s Artists' House. You are welcome to attend!

The exhibition “Subversive Embroidery” by Tiina Sööt and Killu Sukmit addresses the everyday radicalism of feminism. By employing a visual language rooted in activism, embroidery becomes a tool of persistent resistance.

Never underestimate a woman who embroiders! For centuries, women have stitched resistance into fabric, documenting history, culture, and the fight for their rights.

In 1912, suffragettes in the United Kingdom were imprisoned. Since pen and paper were forbidden in prison - but embroidery was allowed - the needle became the women’s means of writing and their voice.

In the 1970s, artists like Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, and others used activist embroidery to challenge hierarchies in the art world. In Chile during the 1970s and ’80s, women created embroidered burlap tapestries known as arpilleras as a form of resistance to Pinochet’s dictatorship. Four decades later, in 2017, garment factory workers at Zara, Mango, and Next in Turkey secretly sewed protest messages into clothing after not being paid for their labor.

Tiina Sööt’s works explore the female body, sexuality, and societal power relations through craft techniques traditionally considered feminine, such as embroidery and quilting. The imagery of vulvas and phalluses, menstrual blood, and domestic intimacy serve to undermine patriarchal norms and visual taboos. Her works, which intertwine the personal and the societal, the everyday and the uncomfortable, create space not only for protest but also for the expression of joy and autonomy.

Tiina Sööt works in the fields of visual art and performance. Since 2012, she has collaborated with Austrian performance artist Dorothea Zeyringer. Last year, Sööt/Zeyringer received the City of Vienna’s Förderungspreis in the category of visual arts. In 2022, Sööt published her literary debut, an autobiographical book titled “My Romania. In Love with Absurdity”, which was awarded the title of Best Travel Book of the Year (by GO Travel Magazine). Across various media, Sööt’s work centers on themes of feminism, documentality, sexuality and gender, as well as interpersonal connections, solidarity, and care.

Killu Sukmit is a feminist artist who works with textiles, text, installation, and sonic storytelling. In her practice, she mixes forgotten histories and subversive activist language, which meets the theme of the work. Sukmit's latest exhibitions have dealt, among other things, with feminist folklore in fairy tales. In the exhibition "Subversive Embroidery", for example, Linda, Mary and Eve meet, and talk to each other about feminist mothering. Together with other women, they make protest slogans and accidentally discover someone who actually lives in a spider's web.

Killu Sukmit co-founded Kraam, an artist-run space (with Minna Hint), and was one of the organisers of Ladyfest Tallinn. Sukmit has participated in groups such as the Valie Export Society, The Elfriede Jelinek School of English Language, and Feminismbuilder. Her recent solo exhibitions include Talks with a Tiger (2024) at Draakon Gallery,  Artist and Her Work (2021) at Tartu Art House, Monumental Gallery, K’s Garden (2019) at Kraam artist-run space. Since 2012, she has played drums in the duo Hello Killu (with Hello Upan). Also played in the bands Dr. Dorothee & Why, Extrafine, Paul Cole & Ring My Bell, and Punane. She was awarded the Estonian Cultural Endowment Annual Art Award in 2001 (with Mari Laanemets) and in 2019 (with Minna Hint).

Poster by Killu Sukmit

Works used on the poster: Killu Sukmit “Kalevipoeg under Trial” (2025) and Tiina Sööt “Pincushion” (2024)

Exhibition is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Artists' Association, Bildrecht

Thanks: Urve Sukmit, Kaarel Kressa, Järsi framing workroom, Teodor Stănoiu, Alice Furdui, Mihai Ciuraru

After the opening of the exhibition “Subversive Embroidery”, a solo exhibition by Üllar Varik titled "Constructive Summer" will open at 5:30 PM in the project space of Pärnu Artists' House.