This week I spoke to Tal Fitzpatrick, a textile artist working primarily in appliqué quilting. Tal’s story is one that I’m so excited to share, as she found textile and fibre art later in life than many guests I’ve spoken to on the podcast, (though you’ll learn she has a family history of pretty amazing fibre art) Tal explains how working in natural disaster community resilience projects eventually led her to pursing her PhD and how she looks at Crafitvism in her active, participatory research. Tal has been working on a number of incredible, large-scale social engaged craftivism projects in addition to her PhD, and she talks us through her research on craftivism, her working definition, and how she sees craftivism as a mode of DIY citizenship. This conversation with Tal was one that had me reeling for days after - I was trying to explain the conversation to other people in my life, family members and friends, how everything Tal mentioned just resonated so deeply for me. I can’t wait to hear what the podcast community thinks of this episode! I also want to mention that Tal’s PhD Exhibition will be on display from 7-10 March at the Kings Artist Run Initiative on King St in Melbourne. For all those Aus based listeners, I’d highly recommend checking it out! And please someone take some pictures for me! shownotes for this epsiode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode35