In the 1970s there was a lot of radical change within the way visual arts discourse was being discussed. One of the big critiques that second wave feminism had of mainstream art history was that it excluded a lot of creative practices that had been traditionally limited to women. Things like embroidery, knitting and crochet that we associate with the “domestic realm.” Quite a few women, particularly within Australia, were interested in how they could use that history of women creative knowledge to subversively create art with materials that had really been pushed outside the art schools and institutions that were male dominated.

There were some really interesting movements such as the Women’s Domestic Needlework Group, an organisation that came out of Sydney University. Women would get together and exchange knowledge about needlework. They would document stitches, materials and all this stuff that men hadn’t paid attention to. It was very much a reclaiming of women’s knowledge within second wave feminism and re-asserting needlework and textiles as a legitimate art practice.

https://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/papevm/a-brief-history-of-women-changing-the-world-with-textiles