Listening to the lacemakers of Lefkara

: a craft of resistance

Abstract

This thesis investigates the social practice of Lefkaritika, a unique style of needlework made by the women of Lefkara, a village in southern Cyprus. In 2009, UNECSO recognized Lefkaritika as both an 'artistic and social practice’ of global significance and put it on its ‘List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity’ to safeguard ‘traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed onto our descendants.’ Today the craft rests in the hands of a few elderly lacemakers and there is a very real possibility that it will die out. Whilst the artistic practice is partially documented, the social practice remains hitherto unrecorded - with stories of the lacemakers themselves notably missing from the archives. In this thesis, drawing on my experience as a socially engaged practitioner who foregrounds women’s voices, I present archival and original ethnographic research, which I undertook between October 2021 – October 2024, to document and examine the social practice for the first time. This comprises a contribution to knowledge of historical evidence confirming the craft’s Cypriot origins, collection of interviews recording the impact of lace on women’s lives and the first photographic survey of remaining lacemakers and shops in the village. This research, I argue, from an analysis of both their stories and their silences, reveals a gendered colonial history and a complex relationship between maker and craft. A practice which once involved groups crafting together in communal spaces, now consists of isolated individuals, often working performatively or in tacit competition against each other. Through a decolonial feminist lens I argue those gaps, beyond words yet tangible within the materiality of the craft, are spaces of silent resistance. In response, through the production of two creative research pieces – an installation and a photobook – I simultaneously explore how socially engaged practice can support the survival and celebration of the craft, alongside the controversial question of whether allowing the craft to decline might be the ultimate safeguarding act. This thesis aims to demonstrate that by continuing to ignore women’s stories in heritage preservation, cycles of gendered colonial silencing are repeated and reinforced.

Date of Award	May 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Jessica Moriarty (Supervisor) & Julia Winckler (Supervisor)