Together with twenty Ukrainian women and five children, artist Elganan Jelsma has made a freedom skirt full of personal embroidery. What makes the garment even more unique? It consists entirely of discarded military textiles. “It’s special that you can tell all different stories with just one skirt,” says Elganan.
After the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945, many women wore liberation skirts. This design was introduced by Mies Boissevain-van Lennep, an Amsterdam feminist, Jewish rescuer and resistance fighter in World War II.
Inspired by her first liberation skirt, Elganan started thinking about what freedom means to her and the people around her. “When the war broke out in Ukraine and many refugees settled in Hilversum, ‘freedom’ took on a completely different meaning. At this moment I got the inspiration to make a link between a freedom skirt and the war.”
Two embroidery boxes and an interpreter
Around the same time, an ArtHilversum employee came up with the idea of starting a project in which artists create work inspired by the refugees. “It didn’t feel right for me to just get and not give anything back,” said Elganan.
With two embroidery boxes and an interpreter, she herself went to the shelter on Heuvellaan to ask the Ukrainian women if they wanted to be part of her project. “That triggered something in them. Embroidery is a technique that is still widely used in Ukraine, so they wanted to get started right away. I gave them a piece of discarded military textile and they were free to embroider whatever they wanted. a surprise for me too. I didn’t want to impose anything on them, they are free here.”
Discarded military clothing
For the past six years, Elganan has been working as a museum director at the Waterlinie Museum in Bunnik. There she comes into contact with the Ministry of Defence, who tells her about the enormous textile waste mountain of discarded military clothing. Except for new socks, almost everything is burned. “And that’s a shame. Sometimes the clothes are still completely new,” says the Hilversum artist.
In the distribution center, all personal information is removed from the clothing and the textile is cut up. The discarded textile cannot go to shops in its entirety, because it can then be misused. “Because the distribution center trusts me to incorporate it into my art in the right way, I have an agreement that I can take the clothing in its entirety.”
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Most Ukrainian women do not speak Dutch or English, but working with their hands creates a connection. “When everyone went to work, there was a lot of relaxation and tranquility. As the workshop progressed, more and more stories and feelings came to them,” Elganan looks back.
For example, the women talk about a Ukrainian folk song entitled ‘Two Colors’ that is about embroidery. In the song, red stands for love and black for sadness. “We listened to this song together and then I noticed that music releases a lot from them. You felt a kind of universal sadness. I like that there was so much connection.”
High praise
In addition to the Ukrainian women, the Hilversum shelter also praises the workshop. “They didn’t know at all that people needed this. There is often a tendency to let others talk as soon as they have experienced something, but that is not always necessary. Listening to music or working with the hands can also evoke many feelings and help with the processing.”
The visualization below takes you along the different embroideries. In total, ten embroideries are highlighted. Click on the button at the bottom right to discover the stories behind the embroideries.
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The freedom skirt was exhibited last weekend in the gallery of Art Hilversum as part of the exhibition ‘encounters’. The gallery shows work that was created after meetings between Hilversum artists and Ukrainian refugees who are staying in Hilversum with host families or in the refugee shelter.
The exhibition can be viewed until the end of May. After that time, the artist hopes that the skirt will travel. “Both the Hilversum Library and the Dutch Vesting Museum in Naarden are already interested,” says Elganan. “I know I can’t stop the war, but I can turn the stories of all women into art and give them a beautiful experience that they look back on with a positive look.”
View an impression of the opening here.