If anyone could use their tool of a rebel, Shannon Downey owns her passion of cross-stitching, “Badass Cross-stitch.” After serving in digital marketing premises for ten years, she came up with cross-stitching, which vented out into activism.
Likewise, Downey has bottled up her anger into a stitch that said, “I’m so angry, I stitched this just so I could stab something 3,000 times.” Also, one of the sentences that Downey stitched: ‘Boys will be boys’ garnered her immediate popularity on social media.
How do cross-stitching make her satisfy to the end? And how did her ‘craftivism’ shine in activism parades? Does her husband love how she has taken cross-stitching into activism on social media platforms? Stay with us; we’ll unravel the entire story:
How did Cross-Stitching Begin?
Downey learned cross-stitching while she was in fifth grade. As an adult, she was stuck in the office job and couldn’t get the chance to cross-stitch again. After all, she was working in a digital market company.
One day, Downey procured a Star Trek cross stitch pattern on Etsy and cross-stitched Captain Picard eventually. After ten years of involvement in a digital marketing company, she felt powerful and positive after following her passion. In no time, she was aware that nothing is as expressive as cross-stitching. Thus, she longed for people to take part in creative activism for social change in lieu of inspiring people emotionally.
One of her pieces, “Boys will be held accountable for their fucking actions”, accumulated larger audience participation. People used the tag when the world was too occupied in digging #metoo stories. It gave her recognition on social media platforms too.
Similarly, she began the massive quilting project, which had uncompleted embroidery of the United States map. Downey inspired more than a thousand people to accomplish the quilting business in honor of the 99-years old demised soul of Rita Smith, whom no one recognized.
The First Cross-Stitch Story
Well, the first time, Shannon Downey crafted about the gun violence as she witnessed her shattered window glass in a drive-by shooting. When she uploaded it on Instagram, she received appeals for the craft.
So, Downey inspired people to create their gun violence pattern. As a result, she attained numerous patterns, which were put on display at an art gallery, and eventually, the act collected $5,000 for the anti-violence nonprofit, Project Fire.
Where is Shannon Downey From?
The director of Asian American Advancing Justice, Shannon Downey, resides in Chicago, Illinois. Originally, she is from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Growing up in the wings of ‘union organizers’ parents, Downey chose to be the activist of her own way in the end. Since the early days, she knew the idea of arranging community activist events.
An adjunct business professor at DePaul University and Columbia College, Downey hasn’t shared most of her private details, including her age, birthday, and marital status. She aims in persuading people to craft their stories and showcase them in an art gallery.
