Moa-Matilda Nilsson

The Rites of Manhood is a degree project that explores the role textile plays in the staging of masculinity through an investigation of fraternal groups. The project combines the themes of textile craft, gender studies and men-only secret societies. I have investigated how my crafts can be seen as performative, how materialities can be sexualised and how the room can be seen as a co-creator in the construction of gender. I work with mixed media textiles, mostly sewing and embroidery and I have created a spatial installation which works as a scene for a performance. The performance is a satirical interpretation of the Freemasons’ initiation rite. I think that it is interesting that the traditionally female coded textile craft is prevalent in these men-only rooms; it’s like the female is present yet excluded from these rooms. The Rites of Manhood is a piece that operates as a symbol for how gender is performed, both in specific rooms like these secret ones, but also in society as a whole. Understanding gendered behaviours as performative in the theatrical sense allows for the possibility of change.