This series of work adopts the motifs of barn quilt squares that can be found all over Northern Illinois as well as the silhouettes of indigenous plant and animal species of the Chicagoland area and beyond, using both the negative space inside of the quilt patterning as well as linocut relief prints. Juxtaposing the geometric, colorful quilted patterns with the soft, organic lines of seed pods, wings, and more, I call into question that which is constructed and that which is considered “natural” in today’s geopolitical landscape. 

With a devastating increase in xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment as a result of the United States’ current administration, I hope to add to the conversation of opposition: I challenge the necessity, and ultimate futility, of borders and the societal “rules” we must follow by which no other living species abide. Birds, bats, and trees don’t observe borders – why do we? 

Just as quilts are historically made as a result of community action and collaboration, resistance is most effective when neighbors band together. We, the community members, advocates, and workers, are capable of stitching together a world that thrives on differences rather than one that tries to draw boundaries around them.