The piece of art that I chose to analyze is the Pussyhat Project. The Pussyhat Project was started in 2016 by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh in response to the rhetoric used toward women and minorities during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. After Trump was elected as president, Krista was planning to go to the Women’s March in DC. Jaynah was unable to attend but wanted to make her voice heard, so the two of them started knitting pink hats for protesters to wear. They shared the pattern freely and widely through social media and knitting circles, and encouraged people to make hats for themselves and for others as a way to protest and participate. They also hoped to de-stigmatize the word “pussy” after tapes of Trump using the word were surfaced.
The materials used for this was pink yarn and crochet hooks. The pattern was designed to be really easy, but it also used the metaphor of “pussycat ears” to underscore the reference to “pussy.” The pink hats were wildly popular during that march and others in subsequent years.
The public created by this project is the onlookers — people who are watching the protests, news organizations, people watching the news, and politicians. It also creates the counterpublic of women and people supporting women, and specifically those who did not support Trump.