Crip Stitch Sewing Workshop with Marina Heron Tsaplina

Join artist Mari­na Heron Tsaplina in a ​“Crip Stitch” sewing work­shop, leav­ing vis­i­ble scars on tex­tiles to hon­or dis­abled soils harmed by indus­tri­al extrac­tion. Tsaplina will be artist-in-res­i­dence at Swale from July 20-August 23, and will con­duct addi­tion­al weav­ing work­shops dur­ing that time.

The term ​“crip” should gen­er­al­ly only be used by dis­abled peo­ple them­selves or with explic­it per­mis­sion from the dis­abil­i­ty com­mu­ni­ty being ref­er­enced. While the word has been reclaimed by many in the dis­abil­i­ty com­mu­ni­ty as a form of empow­er­ment, it remains a term with a his­to­ry of oppres­sion and stig­ma. Non-dis­abled allies, researchers, and advo­cates should use respect­ful lan­guage like ​“dis­abil­i­ty cul­ture,” ​“dis­abled com­mu­ni­ty,” or ​“peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties” unless specif­i­cal­ly dis­cussing crip the­o­ry in aca­d­e­m­ic con­texts or when dis­abled peo­ple have invit­ed its use in par­tic­u­lar set­tings. More dis­abil­i­ty resources are avail­able here.

Swale is one of the 2026 Gov­er­nors Island Arts Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence.