About the Exhibition
As a new birthing person myself, the work of this moment is to give voice to the experience of being a womb bearing person. The weight of transformation as an act of survival is only relieved by rebirth. Each crocheted piece in this exhibit has been reborn of reclaimed fibers, to honor Mother Earth and the abundance she provides. Connecting one end of discarded yarn to another to form a whole new body out of what was left to stagnate keeps the creative river flowing.
From plastic single-use grocery bags to hand spun hand-spun wool, these pieces are crocheted in the freeform, which means they are born without patterns or a guide, each stitch an act of choosing. Each piece of art is one of a kind and belongs only to itself.
These works are inspired by the archetypes of the feminine as well as the Earth goddess herself. They seek to give voice to the womb of the earth and reveal the divinity of what is. If transformation is the river, then these womb people sit at her mouth, creating from refuse a new way of being.
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Exhibition Gallery
The Artemis Hood 2022
Reclaimed cotton, Japanese wool, and silk blends of yarn, hand dyed. Crochet.
Earth Goddess Tlaltecuhtli Bag 2023
Reclaimed cotton, acrylic wool fiber, rope, and suit ties. Freeform crochet.
Featherbrain 2023
Reclaimed coarse wool, foraged feathers of seagull, raven, and great horned owl. Freeform crochet.
The Grandmother Tree Ent Bag 2023
Wool, acrylic and cotton fibers, reclaimed rope. Freeform crochet.
Head/Heart Dream Journal Pillow 2024
Blend of acrylic, wool, and cotton reclaimed fibers. Freeform crochet.
Imelda’s Grin Jacket 2023
Upcycled corduroy jacket, acrylic, cotton wool fibers, and reclaimed stuffing. Freeform crochet.
Mother’s Milk 2024
Reclaimed wool from Wisconsin. Crochet.
Many Mother’s Maternity Dress 2025
Upcycled sweater, buttons, thread, reclaimed wool, alpaca, cotton, acrylic, and hand-dyed fibers. Freeforn crochet, hand-sewing.
About the Artist
Gael Rhyder
Gael Rhyder is a multi-generational fiber artist who has been practicing the art of crochet for twenty-one years. They are self-taught and the sole proprietor of the creative company, The Winged Way. Their work is deeply inspired by the experience of womb people, the mythos of the goddess, and finding a sense of place in the natural as well as the global world.
Rhyder grew up in the dense forests of the northeast, studied philosophy, human rights, and Women's and Gender Studies in Boston, and then moved to Bangladesh. Her work is influenced by the deities and radical feminist forces of nature that she was exposed to while living in Bangladesh and Taiwan, as well as her travels through Nepal, Kenya, Rwanda, Panama, Nicaragua, and India. After living in Taiwan, they moved to the high desert of Arizona and started The Winged Way at the dawn of the pandemic.
Gael's creative expression is imperative to their ability to process the past and possess her own future. She is part of a long line of creative womb people and yet the first to center her livelihood in it. Her creative work is to tell the story of all they have witnessed, and it is through fibers she is finding her way to stitch it together.