Performance Hooked—Опасная работа by the Bosnian artist Šejla Kamerić is tied to her ongoing textile installation series of the same title that the artist started in 2010. The Hooked is handmade crocheted nets that are inspired by enlarged tablecloths — doilies. These familiar household objects are transformed into pieces that symbolize the origins of their creation — the social captivity of women. Crochet pieces are oversized and unattainable in a subtle attempt to break free from the enforced and maintained restraints.

The new performance Hooked—Опасная работа is done on the stage of the Ekaterinburg Circus. A group of women is crocheting seated in a circle facing the audience. The movement of repetitive crocheting can be seen as an obsession. Being hooked in the creation is an act of liberation. Breaking free from the strict pattern is liberating. Gradually, crochet pieces lose their practical purpose, they are artworks. Crocheting needs to be seen as an artistic act. 

The performance is visualizing the origin of a female struggle for creative expression through the skill of crocheting and also points out the position in which women are still caught in.

“Doilies are women's handicrafts. They arise from the need for creative expression. Their desire to decorate is misunderstood, devalued. They are marginalized, same as the positions of those who created them. In the world where women were not allowed to express themselves creatively, their work ‘must’ be useful, and their expression reduced. Throughout history and even today, women are not allowed to go to school, to write, to paint, to build. Their role is to give birth, to take care of children and men, to cook and clean. The only creative expression that women were allowed to do was weaving, knitting, embroidery, crocheting, producing items that have a function. That’s how women invented decorations — the function has become an excuse for creativity,” says Kamerić.