Machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand embroidered, machine quilted.

I began working on “Witness” shortly after the United States invaded Iraq. I wanted an art quilt piece that would represent my own dissent with the war. In early February, Guernica captured my attention as the tapestry copy in the UN had a curtain hung over it. Officials decided it was inappropriate for Colin Powell to make statements about Iraq in front of that image. I had my source. Rather than try to recreate the whole image, I chose to focus on the section that includes a very traditional quilt block design – the attic window.

While this piece was initially about Iraq, the scope expanded when I came to the point of quilting. Over the past two years, genocide has occurred in many places in the world. I have recorded the countries and parties involved through the quilting lines, writing out the names of these places and parties.

Quilt in private collection.