Resistance to the president and his policies generates protests across the country. In the midst of increasing police brutality, constraints on free elections and free speech, economic inequality including high unemployment and low wages, liberal, anti-capitalist, and feminist factions speak out. Sound familiar? Think back to 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Most of us in the West looked on with admiration for the courageous days-long revolution in Tahrir plaza and elsewhere around Egypt. We hoped for the spread of democracy to other countries, and new alliances across the middle-east.
This piece is a green work, part of my ReUse series. It’s made of foil-lined plastics that would otherwise go into the trash and landfills. I recycled packages that once held tea bags and ground coffee, Mediterranean flavored snacks… even packages for hummus mix. My piece started out as a Trip Round the World, then evolved into a Log Cabin pattern. Heart in Hand — that beloved Pennsylvania Deutch folk art motif is used here to represent us Americans, and the Hamsa—a hand with 2 thumbs, is a middle-eastern good luck charm meant to ward off the evil eye. I also appropriated ballot boxes — each marked with an X, and a dove of peace to tell the story.
I created this piece for the Quilt Alliance, and it was auctioned to benefit this worthwhile organization that preserves quilt history. Meg Cox had the winning bid, and it has resided in her collection.
