All Work is Women’s Work

All Work Is Women’s Work uncovers the forgotten story of The Seamstresses’ Union, one of the first all-female labour unions in the Netherlands, and their radical use of print media to challenge patriarchal and capitalist systems in the early 20th century. This project delves into the struggles and triumphs of working-class women who fought for fair wages, dignity, and autonomy. Through their newspaper, De Naaistersbode (“The Seamstresses’ Courier”), the union created a vital communication channel that connected women across Amsterdam, amplifying their voices and fostering solidarity in the face of exploitation. All Work Is Women’s Work is a feminist intervention into the archives, drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s assertion that “documentation is a feminist project.” It brings to light the radical publishing practices of The Seamstresses’ Union, situating them within a broader history of leftist and anarchist print culture. In a Cixousian act of “writing the body,” the project reinscribes the seamstresses’ struggle into the present through the body of the text, the fabric of the city, and the materiality of dress. By mapping key sites of labour activism, republishing archival materials through XEROXED, a garment publishing platform founded by Alia Mascia, and providing a sticker to mark these hidden histories in Amsterdam’s urban landscape, this project reimagines the archive as a space of “active recollection” rather than a static repository. All proceeds from the sale of the Library of Unruly Fashion Practices x XEROXED garments at this launch will be donated to Librarians and Archivists with Palestine.