Political Quilts

My political quilt career started as I sat home alone watching the US bomb the Iraqis in the first Gulf War. The first quilt, Blood and Oil: the Peace Quilt, just poured out of me. This was the beginning of the challenges in making and displaying political quilts.

Blood & Oil: The Peace Quilt, 1990
Blood & Oil: The Peace Quilt, 1990

I put a ‘river’ in the center that represents a river of devastation.

Displaying this quilt at a local show was also a lesson in the display of political quilts. I saw the card with my story of the quilt on the quilt when I got there, but when I went back later, it was gone. No attribution and no story: no message got out to other quilt viewers. When I queried, they said that things like that happen and they would put up a new one. I never saw it.

This quilt was followed by two quilts after 9/11, which were so hard to make, but also cathartic.

Fireball
Fireball

Fireball just expressed my horror of the devastation. I made it very quickly for the America from the Heart display at Houston in 2001, which was about a month and a half after the devastation of 9/11.

What Comes Next
What Comes Next

What Comes Next is a quilt that expressed my hope for the future after 9/11. The ‘river’ theme continues in this quilt, but this time is a river of tears. Of course, the future brought the second Iraqi war, the continuing war in Afghanistan, Syria, devastation, hatred, fear all over the Middle East.

Down the Drain: Finished
Down the Drain: Finished

The stress that was the genesis of this quilt started on my birthday, which was January 20 (2017), not just because it was inauguration day, but also because I was at an event where people were happy to see President Obama leave office. They didn’t like him because he was black. For them it was No-Bama Day. For me, even though I didn’t know it at the time, it was the beginning of a stressful, distressing time.

I walked around waiting for my ATM card not to work, to be made subhuman, like in the Handmaid’s Tale. I started really to fear that the better country we were making would be dismantled. You might think we don’t need the EPA or the ACA and that is your right. I do not want to create a Sh*tstorm and this is not a political blog. I feel we do need clean air and health care for everyone. My feelings coalesced when I saw Sarah Ann Smith’s quilt, Speak Up, Speak Out.

 

A few weeks ago I posted a Spark about having a secret. It was purely coincidental with the project I was working on.

Down the Drain: basted and ready to quilt
Down the Drain: basted and ready to quilt

I needed to work on this project, but I did not want comments or to provoke the storm I know will come with this post. I wasn’t quite ready. I still am not ready. As long as I still have freedom of speech I will post this quilt. I knew about the Threads of Resistance project and I would love to be a part of that, but I don’t do well with challenges. I wish I did because I’d love to be a part of that show.

The stress started on my birthday, which was January 20, not just because it was inauguration day, but also because I was at an event where people were happy to see President Obama leave office. They didn’t like him because he was black. For them it was No-Bama Day. For me, even though I didn’t know it at the time, it was the beginning of a stressful, distressing time.

I walked around waiting for my ATM card not to work, to be made subhuman, like in the Handmaid’s Tale. I started really to fear that the better country we were making would be dismantled. You might think we don’t need the EPA or the ACA and that is your right. I do not want to create a Sh*tstorm and this is not a political blog. I feel we do need clean air and health care for everyone. My feelings coalesced when I saw Sarah Ann Smith’s quilt, Speak Up, Speak Out.

Sarah Ann Smith's Quilt Speak Up, Speak Out
Sarah Ann Smith’s Quilt Speak Up, Speak Out

When I saw her quilt, I realized that another in my political art quilt series had been brewing in my head without me really knowing. I thought “this is the quilt I wanted to make.” I said so to Sarah and she said to make my version.

I thought about it for a long time, then I drew a picture in my journal. I thought that would be the end of it, but I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. I drew it again, a little more refined and more to scale.

I drew it over an over, continually refining, adding detail. The whole process went so smoothly that I kept going into piecing and cutting and sewing and quilting.

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These quilts are difficult to make, difficult to display and difficult to look at. I have more in my future, I am sure.