Mwhile Mrs. Lucia is busy choosing the balls of yarn, two other women show each other their work. «Beautiful!», «I can’t quite understand how to do this stitch». «Look at how Giorgio is doing». «Who helps me hold the banner?». It’s Saturday afternoon, it’s hot and the center of Milan it is full of tourists. Some pass by without stopping, others take photos, others ask for information: «Exactly who are you? I also knit. Things Words and Points?”.
(Photo: Silvia Mazzucchelli)
«Words and Points first of all it is a family”, he explains Enrica Bolognipresident of the association of social promotion which has been operating in Milan for approximately twenty years joining knitting, activism and culture. «And not in a honeyed sense, mind you. Every Saturday we meet at Urban Cultural Sea to be together and do what we like: knitting and crochet. Today we organized our first flash mob against violence against women». Words and Points it is a community of people, men and women, who support women victims of violence, rainbow houses and civilian victims of war through their own creations. A simple and powerful idea: a gesture that can really help to start again, to put the dots together, to recompose.
(Photo: Silvia Mazzucchelli)
Words and Points, the blankets of the embrace
One of the most important projects of Words and Points against gender violence I am “the blankets of the embrace”: twelve squares made by different hands which, combined, form a blanket intended for women victims of abuse. Many of these are donated to anti-violence centers such as theassociation Telephone Donna Niguarda. «Each blanket represents symbolically a real hug to all those women who have decided to report, who want to start living again”tells Bologni while placing a blanket on a participant’s shoulders. «It should be put like this, it envelops you and warms you. They are colorful posters, full of joy, to say no to violence.”
A community that welcomes and protects
Words and Points And a network of people and relationships. There are those who come here because they absolutely love crocheting, those who want to fight loneliness, those who want to feel useful, those who seek a deeper and more personal motivation. Everyone feels at home, in a protected place: «It has almost become a physical need to attend the Saturday meeting”tells Enrica Margaramember of Words and Points from 2024. «A moment of sharing beautiful, but also sad moments. A safe place to take refuge in moments when energy is lacking».
(Photo: Silvia Mazzucchelli)
«Not just gender violence, but violence in general»
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