My conversation with the Earth will be about the damaging impact that humans have had upon it. In particular, it will explore issues in relation to the causes, outcomes and amelioration of climate change.
My interest in this has been sparked, first, by my daughter-in-law. She has raised my awareness of the need for urgent action in relation to climate change through her organization Parents for Future, UK. As part of a wider global movement, they work to encourage conversations about the future of the planet, for the sake of their children, and to lobby for action and change. Second, I can - as indeed we all can- see the ways in which the climate is changing, probably more rapidly as each year passes: more droughts, more rain, more winds; less predictability and less stability. In 2024 Delhi reached a temperature of 50 degrees; meanwhile in the UK the winter has seen endless rain and, as I write in June, we are still waiting for the summer.
So my series of 3 quilts will be a personal and modest contribution to environmental consciousness raising. As it is a conversation, each quilt will have some text included.
STOP
This first quilt starts at the beginning, by calling for an end to the burning of fossil fuels, the source of much of the carbon dioxide that is polluting the atmosphere and a major factor in climate change. The quilt depicts heaps of burning coal, the pit head machinery associated with mines and the flaring burn off from oil wells and gas fields.
I first made the heaps of burning coal. Scraps of fabric were collaged, then fused to lightweight, fusible interfacing, before being stitched down with satin stitch.
PHOTO
The background fabric was quilted and stitched, before the appliqué pieces of coal and machinery were fused down. These are set against the word STOP outline stitched into the background.
I had first thought of putting clouds of CO2 in the top half of the quilt, and quilting the formula CO2 on them, or the words NO MORE or STOP onto them. I decided, however, that this turned the quilt into a cartoon-style quilt and that the white clouds were also too much contrast.
I then thought to make the word, STOP, out of appliquéd individual letters, but this turned the quilt into a kind of poster, which was not really what I wanted to achieve. Rather, I wanted the quilt “ to speak” to people in a more subtle way, and so, finally I decided to machine stitch STOP, repeatedly, as an outline instead. Following review, however, I felt that the outlined word STOP could not be readily seen , so added some additional stitching by hand for emphasis.
STOP
24" x 32"
Comments