| The Afghan Freedom Quilt - Silenced Voices of the Afghan Diaspora |
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 View the Afghan Freedom Quilt July 17 - September 23, 2007
View photos of the quilt project! We are currently editing, and posting a pictorial history of the quilt, so check back often for new images. FREMONT -- Between the stitches in the Afghan Freedom Quilt are stories of three decades of war, struggle and survival, of hope and sorrow. Whitney Chadwick, noted SF State art historian and author of the widely used text Women, Art and Society, reflects on the quilt: " In recent years, many women have responded to the world around them by searching for forms of creative expression that document and express aspects of loss, trauma, reconciliation or renewal. Sometimes the sources of the trauma are personal, rooted in the conditions of an individual’s life and/or psychic reality. At other times the sources of the trauma are to be found in historical events. Often the work that grows out of experiences of loss, longing, war, famine, dislocation, etc. is motivated by a sense of urgency, a desire to give form to painful experiences, to resist erasure, and to ensure that memory is given form and meaning in the physical world. Women have chosen many media as vehicles for communicating personal and collective histories, but perhaps none has served them as well as needlework. With its long history, its existence as both a personal and a collective expression, its links to materials and processes that have been necessary for the survival of individuals, families and cultures, needlework has often given visible form to women’s pain, hope and joy. The Afghan Freedom Project takes its place in the multiple histories through which women have made their lives and stories visible and enduring. To give form to the experiences that most deeply mark one is a sign of courage and a marker of faith in the future. The Afghan Quilt Project speaks powerfully to that courage and that faith." Whitney Chadwick, July 21, 2006. Faith Ringgold, whose painted story quilts are part of the permanent collection of many museums including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art, comments: “I am deeply touched by the fact that so many American women have reached out to Afghan women to heal and build hope for a bright future with peace and freedom for all. The Afghan Freedom Quilt Project is such a project and it has my sincere hope for on going success.” Faith Ringgold, July 26, 2006. History of the Quilt The Afghan Freedom Quilt, a collaborative sewing/fundraising project, began in July 2003.During the summer of 2003, Afghan American women traveled to Afghanistan, gathered contributions for the quilt, then brought them back to Fremont, CA. Over the past few years, women met once or twice a month in Fremont, CA to work on the assembly of the quilt. The quilt was finished on April 09, 2006. The quilt is a mixed media collage of images from war widows in Afghanistan and the San Francisco Bay Area. It has joined the hearts and hands of local Afghan American refugee women with the hearts and hands of the women they left behind in Afghanistan. Pieces sewn for this amazing quilt are symbolic interpretations of what human rights, empowerment, equality, peace, hardship, sisterhood, and freedom meant to the individual contributor. MAKE A DONATION E-Booklet and CD We are in the process of writing and publishing an e-booklet and CD that share photos and narratives about the women in Afghanistan who contributed squares for the quilt, and the refugee women who have been assembling the quilt in Fremont. With the assistance of Moira Roth, Trefethen Professor of Art History at Mills College, notable academic art historians are writing a collage of reflective paragraphs to be included in the booklet introduction. VOLUNTEERS HELPING COMPLETE THE QUILT BOOKLET INCLUDE: ► Nicole Clausing - freelance writer and editor Oakland, CA Clause and Effect This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 510.384.7573 ► Kasturi Rangam - photographer Santa Clara, CA Kasturi Photography This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 408.980.9680 ► Debra Tremper - epublisher Fredericksburg, VA Six Penny Graphics This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 540.891.7704 For more information about the Quilt project, contact: |
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