Reclaiming Elegance

My husband snapped a photo of me while I was teaching a sashiko workshop over Zoom.

I never considered my hands elegant or graceful before. I think of long, smooth, pale fingers, playing piano or violin, as graceful. My family has always had short brown fingers. It makes me think what other words like “graceful” have built-in beauty standards that reflect colonialism? And I wonder if maybe the ties between gracefulness and white supremacy can be dismantled.

Maybe elegance can be found in hands that weave baskets, that sew, that knit, and do other things relegated to “traditional folk art” or “women’s work.” I think a lot about how museums are filled with white men who work with oil on canvas, and anything else isn’t “fine art” but rather women’s craft. But women’s craft, like sewing and quilting for example, is used in every day life.

That’s one reason I love Miró. He wanted art to be in the every day items we use. Not behind glass and guards. It should bring delight as you wash your vegetables. Maybe learning a skill, maintaining your clothing, and decorating your space can be graceful and elegant too.

Teacher’s hands