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Welcome mat from Love Welcomes

Date2020

Object number00056189

NameMat

MediumSynthetic fabric

DimensionsOverall: 530 × 905 × 5 mm

ClassificationsClothing and personal items

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis welcome mat from Love Welcomes is woven out of strips of lifejackets washed up on the beaches of the Mediterranean. Many such lifejackets are cheap fakes sold by people smugglers and do not offer any protection to refugees. This mat was handmade by Syrian refugee women on the Greek island of Lesvos, helping to upcycle and reduce waste, clean the beaches and provide refugee women with an income.HistoryFrom https://lovewelcomes.org/pages/our-story Love Welcomes is a fierce, creative social enterprise that helps refugee women begin to stitch their lives back together. We reclaim the life vests and blankets worn by frightened, exhausted Syrians as they wash up on European shores. Our team of refugee women then transform them into beautiful, handmade welcome mats (and more) that we sell all over the world. We think big and change one life at a time. When you watch the news nowadays, it’s easy to feel helpless. But we passionately believe that love is the greatest force for change in the world, and we’ve never been in more need of it than we are right now. Proceeds from each sale go directly to the woman who wove it, women like Thaura. All profits are used to support Syrian refugees including language lessons, computer training and transportation to things like lawyer meetings or going to the market to buy food. Our aim is to empower refugees to support themselves and their families through employable skills, providing them with dignity and the ability to positively contribute to society. When you buy a product from Love Welcomes, you’re not only providing a refugee with a sense of purpose and dignity, you’re also supporting a family in their time of greatest need. Our goal is to raise awareness of the irreplaceable value of a loving welcome which everyone needs, especially those looking for a home. History Launched in 2017 by Thistle Farms, Love Welcomes was created in response to the refugee crisis witnessed first-hand by a Thistle Farms board member in refugee camps in Greece. Becca Stevens, President and founder of Thistle Farms, came up with the idea of weaving welcome mats from life vests as a way for women in the refugee camps to generate income for themselves. Becca and Abi, then Global Director of Thistle Farms, spent a year developing the product before travelling to Greece in 2017 to teach women how to weave welcome mats in partnership with a local charity called I AM YOU. Impact We’re excited to witness real stories of real lives being changed as a result of our supporters shopping online at Love Welcomes. So far: - 9 women now have jobs, enabling them to support themselves and their families. - 23 women in total have been in employed since the beginning of the project - 14 former Love Welcomes weavers have been permanently relocated across Europe with employable weaving skills. - More than 3,200 mats have been created for sale as of August 2018. - Another two new products have been added and additional training is provided This is just the beginning. We can’t stop the Syrian refugee crisis that has forced millions of men, women and children to flee their homes out of fear for their lives. But we’re not helpless either. We can help some of those who arrive in Greece to weave a better future for themselves and their families, futures full of hope and purpose. So each time you buy something from Love Welcomes, you’re supporting a refugee and her family as they begin to rebuild lives shattered by war, one stitch at a time.SignificanceThe welcome mat highlights the irony of an object created by women detained in Greek refugee camps – women who are decidedly ‘unwelcome’ in Europe. It offers strong interpretive and research potential into the global refugee crisis, particularly the European refugee crisis, people smuggling and seaborne asylum seekers, and adds to the museum’s growing collection of work that demonstrates the role of craft-based practices in empowering refugee women, giving them dignity, hope, employment opportunities and income.