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Online Exhibition
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CAROLE FRANCES LUNG

born 1966, San Francisco; lives and works in Long Beach, CA Frau Fiber vs. the Circular Knitting Machine, 2015 digital video, black-and-white, sound, 4 hours, 32 minutes
Courtesy of ILGWU archives

Artist Carole Frances Lung, biographer and archivist of the persona Frau Fiber, explores the landscape of global textile and clothing manufacturing. In this real-time video Frau Fiber sits placidly in front of an industrial knitting machine and at the end of four-and-a-half hours completes one hand-knitted sock to the machine’s 99. Lung’s workshop, the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers and Uniforms (ILGWU), is an homage to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, which was active from 1900 to 1995.

Learn more about this work…

More information about Carole Lung’s work as the archivist and biographer of the persona Frau Fiber is available online, and includes further discussion from Frau Fiber about the video Frau Fiber vs the Circular Knitting Machine. The Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers and Uniforms (ILGWU) holds the archive and library of Frau Fiber. The educational component of the ILGWU called the Sewing Rebellion featured Faux Fraus who led textile workshops across the country. The Sewing Rebellion shares online instructional videos for making various garments—including hats, aprons, and jackets—using used or recycled garments. An interview with Carole Lung featured in the article “Frau Fiber’s Subversive Stitch: Sewing as an Act of Rebellion” written by Victoria Looseleaf in 2017 speaks further to how the artist created the persona of Frau Fiber and other projects featuring Frau Fiber.

Enjoy a short discussion of Frau Fiber vs. the Circular Knitting Machine recorded at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in spring 2020.