Quilts and Human Rights: A Unique Museum Exhibition

Saturday, March 8, 2008

One of the most powerful art exhibitions ever held at Michigan State University has recently opened at the MSU Museum. We are urging you to experience it with your friends, students, and families! This exhibition will only be at MSU through summer 2008--ends August 24.

Quilts & Human Rights examines the ways in which textiles--especially quilts--have been made and used to demonstrate solidarity with movements dedicated to advancing international human rights, to mark important events related to human rights violations, to pay tribute to those individuals who have played roles in human rights activism, to provide vehicles for the expression of feelings and memories about human rights violations, and to engage individuals in actions that will solve human rights issues. Organized by the MSU Museum, the exhibition continues the museum's commitment to actively engage citizens in addressing important contemporary issues through traditions of creativity.

The exhibition includes work of artists from Detroit to Curved Lake Reserve to Soweto who have tackled such difficult topics as war, incest, the Holocaust in Europe, and domestic abuse. One quilt incorporates photos of over 3,000 Americans who have lost their lives in the Iraq war. An "Ugly Quilt," displayed in a shopping cart, brings home the plight of the homeless. Perhaps the most moving and disturbing quilt is the massive "Strange Fruit" made by Michigan artist April Shipp. On black background fabric she embroidered, in gold thread, the names of the hundreds of individuals who were lynched in the U.S. between 1865 and 1965. Like the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. the quilt is a disquieting memorial. At the top of the quilt Shipp placed two, real, rope nooses. Anyone who is struggling with the oppressive and offensive continued references (both material and verbal) to lynching in the past weeks and year should see this exhibition.

On Martin Luther King Day, MSU's commemorative march ended in the exhibition gallery. The scores of marchers who had just spent the day remembering the achievements of human rights activists like Dr. King poured into the gallery. As soon as they began viewing the quilts and reading the labels with the stories of the quilts and their makers, the marchers launched into animated discussion with each other. They examined Strange Fruit to see if there were names of relatives. They took pictures to send to friends. And they learned about and reflected on human rights.

Artist demonstrations, informal gallery talks by curators, student-led discussions, poetry workshops and readings, and more are being planned to accompany the exhibition so please refer to the MSU Museum webiste (www.museum.msu.edu) for more information about these events as they are scheduled.

Submitted by Marsha MacDowell, Co-curator (with Mary Worrall and Lynne Swanson), Quilts and Human Rights

Related Webpage: Quilts and Human Rights
Learn more about the exhibition along with related activities.