Available now at Lost & Found (2383 Agricola Street, 446-5986) are a series of patches by NSCAD artist Elise Boudreau. “Screen printing patches and zine-making is my attempt to marry my politics with my art practice,” writes Boudreau in an email. “In the recent process towards selling my work online I have been immersed and impressed with the large DIY community of feminist lady crafters.” For more information on Boudreau’s work, visit handsumzine.tumblr.com and/or etsy.com/people/handsumzine.
Each one of her patches is but $4, and we thought this one of of Diana, Princess of Wales especially timely since Diana’s son William is in Canada with his bride this weekend on a kind of honeymoon tour. (What, they couldn’t get a hotel room in Vegas?) Also, royal trivia fans, July 1 would have been Diana’s 50th birthday.
“I am interested in the public adoration of Diana when in reality she was a fairly benign woman,” explains Boudreau. “She was malleable to her audience which may explain the bizarre comparisons between Kate Middleton and Lady Diana…Di has lasting pop culture status, undoubtably. But as what? Was she a martyr, a princess, a loving mother, an activist, a feminist?”
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.