As the institution has not been and
will continue to not represent those in the margins, the practice of quilting
is utilized as a means of acknowledging “women’s work” as essential for
facilitating community building, mapping landscapes and constructed spaces, and
documenting what is typically unseen, unrecorded, and left unresponded to by
the institution.
Every ten years, the United States
prepares for the decennial census in which the federal government attempts to
count every individual living in America. The demographic, financial, and
housing data collected determines the allocation of more than $675 billion
dollars per year spent on schools, hospitals, roads, businesses, public safety,
and apportionment of memberships in the U.S. House of Representatives. The
Census Bureau has revealed that many minority populations are historically
undercounted, and in some cases, intentionally and strategically left out of
this count. As accurate collection data is critical to the well-being of
vulnerable communities, it has grown even more critical to reimagine a process
of caring for communities initiated not within the institution, but beginning
in the margins. In a Census year and with the world experiencing a pandemic,
the need for care is amplified as 5.8 million people are working jobs that pay less than $30,000 a year
with half of them identifying as nonwhite and 83 percent as women. Our essential workers who are already a part of our most
vulnerable communities are maintaining the world’s infrastructure without fair
and livable wages, visibility, health insurance, and protection.As the institution has not been and will continue to not represent those in the margins, the practice of quilting is utilized as a means of acknowledging “women’s work” as essential for facilitating community building, mapping landscapes and constructed spaces, and documenting what is typically unseen, unrecorded, and left unresponded to by the institution.This system for participation to facilitate change is cited in the hyper-intelligence embedded within women’s work and enacts alternative power structures that critically respond to oppressive patriarchal structures.
Quilting is a process for space-makers to create thresholds to rework and open seams within different sites, but this current rework is sited in New Orleans. New Orleans has a rich culture attributed to its cross-cultural history but is confronted with the effects of institutionalized racism, vulnerability to natural disasters, and displacement and gentrification. This collaborative community-based document/recording device and the framework in which it is created both exposes and celebrates these multidimensional influences while reimagining a system for participation to critically respond to decisions and as an active recording tool of history, dream spaces, and growth; enacting quilting as commons.