Quilt as Political Statement

AIDS Memorial Quilt panel, NAMES Project

This recent article in The Observer, by Karen Chernick, traces the history of quilts as political statement.

In Quilting as a Radical Act: An Exhibition Examines the Art Form's Revolutionary Impact, Chernick reviews a new exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art, titled Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change. 

While the common public perception of quilts and quilters is one of cozy domesticity, the reality is often different. This show gathers together over 30 quilts from the mid-19th century onward, revealing a long history of quilts made for social causes.

Quilts that comment on our current pandemic, and that pay tribute to its victims, are no doubt already in the making.