Craft and protest meet in new Museum of Edinburgh exhibition

Making a Statement: Craft & Activism in Edinburgh sets historic objects alongside contemporary works, tracing how Edinburgh’s craft traditions intersect with activism.

Craftivism in the capital

The Museum of Edinburgh has opened an exhibition looking at how humble techniques such as knitting, sewing and collage have been taken up as political tools. Making a Statement: Craft & Activism in Edinburgh, running until 26 January 2026, explores “craftivism” — the practice of using craft to engage with social and political issues.

The movement has grown internationally in the past two decades, with Edinburgh a notable hub thanks to its parliament, its activist networks, and its long history of teaching and practising craft. The show presents the city as a place where lacework, crochet and collage are not only creative outlets but means of making an argument in public.

Past and present side by side

Objects from across Museums & Galleries Edinburgh collections — the People’s Story, the Museum of Childhood and the Museum of Edinburgh itself — have been brought together with contemporary protest material. Visitors will find crocheted banners, a Victorian scrap screen, and even a Jacobite drinking glass, all reframed as expressions of dissent or identity.

New commissions sit alongside them. Works address climate change, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights and mental health, with contributions from the neurodiverse young people supported by MindRoom and from the City Art Centre South Asian Youth Group.

Curator Vicky Garrington explained: “It’s been a fascinating experience, diving into Museums & Galleries Edinburgh’s historic collections to explore the history of crafting and protest in the Capital. We hope viewers will enjoy seeing objects from our collections alongside works by talented contemporary makers. From quiet explorations of wellbeing through lacemaking to bold knitted panels demanding climate justice, there is something for everyone on display.”

Community voices

Edinburgh Council points to the show as evidence of how the city’s traditions can be read afresh. Culture and Communities Convener Margaret Graham said: “Edinburgh has strong craft heritage so I’m delighted that the Museum of Edinburgh will be showcasing how the tradition of craft has evolved into a powerful form of activism.”

She added that the combination of historic and contemporary work “shows what a vibrant city Edinburgh is,” and described the exhibition as reflecting communities using craft to address issues from climate justice to mental health.

The curatorial choice to place centuries-old objects beside protest banners underlines that craft in the city has long had political resonances, even if not always framed as such. The juxtaposition asks visitors to consider how far the needle and the thread have travelled from parlour pastimes into the language of the street.

More than ornament

Craftivism has sometimes been dismissed as symbolic rather than structural politics – more gesture than action. Yet exhibitions like this suggest that, at the very least, it remains an accessible entry point into protest culture. For younger makers in Edinburgh, the act of crocheting a banner or piecing together a protest quilt is a way of asserting identity in a space where loudhailer activism may not feel possible.

Alongside the displays, the Museum is running workshops and demonstrations, including lacemaking sessions, intended to bring audiences into the practice. That participatory aspect points to the strength of craftivism: its tools are ordinary, its methods teachable.

By setting those practices in conversation with historic objects, Making a Statement places Edinburgh’s craft heritage within a longer continuum of dissent. From Jacobite glassware to contemporary climate protest panels, the exhibition suggests that the act of making has always been about more than decoration.