A new exhibition examining the intersection of embroidery, feminism and contemporary art opens next week at INHABIT Galerie, featuring works by seven artists who use needle and thread to challenge traditional boundaries between craft and fine art.
“STITCHES…” opens Dec. 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. and runs through Feb. 8, 2026. The show features works by Peggy Diggs, Kathy Halper, Doris Kapner, Sharon Kivland, Kate Kretz, John Thomas Paradiso and Piper Pelligrini.
Curators Marisa Ravalli and Luca Berkley have focused the exhibition on embroidery’s use on handkerchiefs and bandanas, objects they say carry centuries of cultural meaning.
The exhibition draws on art historian Roszika Parker’s book “The Subversive Stitch,” which challenged Sigmund Freud’s assertion that embroidery made women prone to hysteria. Parker documented how women have used embroidery as a form of resistance, from Mary Queen of Scots encoding secret messages to Chilean women protesting Pinochet’s dictatorship through embroidered arpilleras.
According to the exhibition statement, the show traces embroidery’s evolution from a dismissed “craft” to a medium embraced by influential artists including Louise Bourgeois, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago and Tracey Emin.
The curators note that handkerchiefs and bandanas carry layered symbolism — from tokens of love and surrender flags to symbols of labor movements, wartime resilience and LGBTQ+ identity.
“The needle itself is an instrument of both pain and of healing, of oppression and of liberation,” the curators wrote.
INHABIT Galerie is located at 4436 Corrales Road in Corrales. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. For information, call (505) 524-5856 or visit inhabitgalerie.com.