The Dowry Project: Artist-Led Embroidery Workshop

Join artist Sonia Zymantas for a morning of conversation, craft and community, presented ahead of International Women’s Day.

In her series of works titled The Dowry Project, Sonia responded to the traditional custom of the dowry, and women’s craft as a rite of passage historically tied to marriage, motherhood and domestic life. Sonia used her own Greek dowry in this project, and through a feminist lens, embroidered new words into inherited textiles to challenge gendered language and long-standing stereotypes.

This workshop will begin with a short introduction by a Hellenic Museum curator, exploring the intersection of women’s history and textiles. Over morning tea with a selection of Greek snacks, guests will discover how textiles have reflected women’s social and cultural roles for thousands of years, from objects of necessity to powerful forms of self-expression.

You’ll then join the artist in a hands-on embroidery activity, guided by conversation and reflection. Participants will consider what is most meaningful to them within their own culture, write it down, and begin embroidering it onto their own fabric.

This workshop welcomes women of all backgrounds to celebrate cultural identity in ways significant to them. Together, we will unravel inherited expectations and stereotypes, and weave new stories that honour personal traditions and self-determination.