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An attendee explores the interactive loom created by Fiber Artists Miami Association.

A group visits the MoCA exhibit.

Exhibition Co-Curators Maria Gabriela Di Giammarco, Melanie Prapopoulos and Mario Andres Rodriguez of The CAMP Gallery.

Artist Shelly McCoy writes on her own interactive piece, “We The People,” designed for people to write their thoughts and feelings on the United States and its politics in red and blue crayons.

One of the works on display by Aurora Molina called “I Go to Prepare a Place For You.” It features cotton thread on raw canvas, velvet and beeswax.

One of the works on display by Alina Rodriguez Rojo and Damian Rojo called “Justice Bell III.” It features silkscreen on textile, hoop skirt frame.

One of the works on display by Alissa Alfonso called “Earth Can’t Vote.” It features fused plastics and thread.

One of the works on display by Laetitia Adam-Rabel called “Red, White, and Pink: The Colors of Politics.” It features thread, yarn, ink and acrylic on canvas.

One of the works on display by Laura Villareal called “Breaking Borders: Mapping of a Suffragette.” It features naturally dyed fabric, textiles, yarn and image transfer on cotton.

One of the works on display by Silvana Soriano called “We (Are) the People.” It features mixed media on canvas, alpaca wool and acrylic paint.

MoCA Teachers Erika McGhee, Isabelle Camillo and Agata Tria.

WESTPORT — Women have been protesting for a long time, even back in Ancient Greece, said curator Melanie Prapopoulos.

It’s something she hopes to show with the new exhibit at MoCA Westport, “Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse,” which features female artistry through textiles — long viewed as a feminine realm.

“The marriage of the female artist to the textile medium, both outwardly and socially expected to be weak, in the hands of these artists, is affirming that strength lies in durability, pliability, and resolve,” said Ruth Mannes, MoCA Westport’s executive director.

The exhibit is available to view for free until Oct. 2, letting visitors learn about the crossroads of fiber art with political and social awareness.

Portions of this exhibition were originally displayed at the CAMP Gallery Miami in 2020, in partnership with the Fiber Artists Miami Association. It coincided with the death of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the presidential election and the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave most women the right to vote in the U.S.

“The exhibition and its message — the right to vote, and the action and responsibility of everyone voting - is just as important now as in the past,” Prapopoulos said. “The artists are the present-day warriors still carrying the torch first lit over one hundred years ago.”

This version of the exhibition focuses on flags, using them as a metaphor for women during the suffrage movement. The flags in the exhibition were created with fiber arts and ignited positive social change. They’re made from a range of fibers, including velvet, silk, linen and repurposed materials, such as plastic and canvas, according to the museum.

Prapopoulos said MoCA’s plans to bring this exhibition to Connecticut started before discussions surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision about reproductive rights, which some of the artwork on display focuses on.

“It was timely in 2020, and it’s timely now,” she said.

She said she hopes visitors will see women holding a needle as more than crafters.

“The assumption that this is a petty homemaker-type craft is really disturbing,” she said. “It’s so laid in gender expectations.”

Prapopoulous said she also wants “people to understand that the feminine voice is just as valuable as the male voice.”

This exhibition is shown alongside other works by artist Aurora Molina, sculptor Shelly McCoy and an interactive fiber intallation, as well as other artists.

One of the artists is a South Norwalk resident, Camille Eskell. Her piece, “Rough Robe: Out from Under,” is her first full-scale garment in her “The Fez as Storyteller” series. It is made with a variety of techniques, including digital art and hand sewing, and is created in part from an Indian sari she got on a visit to Mumbai.

“Embracing the exotic and upending Orientalism, my ongoing series ‘The Fez as Storyteller’ delves into my cultural history and familial heritage,” Eskell said. “As a first-generation American and the youngest of three girls from a turbulent Iraqi-Jewish family from Bombay, I examine the impact of this legacy through a feminist lens.”

This work, in particular, focuses on the melding of cultural materials and symbols regularly found in her series. She said the imagery in the robe “portrays the iconic Middle-Eastern figure of the belly dancer/harem girl, and Stars of David are interspersed.”

Eskell also commented on how her piece adds to the overall theme of the exhibition.

“Unfortunately, this social discourse is front and center now, given the recent reactionary political measures made against women's rights in this country,” she said. “This is one of the many important social issues reflected in the show.”

Eskell said she hopes spectators learn “the power of artists’ voices, particularly women, and their active participation in exposing and expressing important social, political and humanistic issues.”

The story has been updated with the correct end date for the exhibit.