Femina

Challenge # 13 The Message is in the Quilt

Femina - latin for woman is a very broad topic that we will be focusing on for the next three challenges.

I have decided to focus on how women throughout history have used textiles and fibre arts to communicate messages, in times of confinement, slavery and resistance.  Documentation throughout history has shown the use of textiles and fibres arts have been used as a method of recording the current events and sending messages to others.

In the second in this series, I have presented examples of the quilts that were used as symbols and information for individuals escaping slavery through the "Underground Railway"

Different quilt designs carried different meanings throughout history coming from Africa.

In this quilt I have presented 3, from left to right; Monkey Wrench was letting people know that it was time gather their tools and that we will be leaving this area, Log Cabin was to let individuals know that this was a safe house and there was help available here and finally Evening Star/Night Star let them know that we will leave at night.

I live in an area in Ontario, Canada that was not far from the destination for slaves looking for freedom. I used a photo of the road that I live on, printed on fabric, quilted and the mini quilts were designed in ProCreate and then printed on fabric using a home printer. They were quilted and then attached to the quilted photo quilt.

The Message is in the Quilt

Here are a few pictures of the quilt in progress;