Comfort Quilts: Remembering the Innocent

These artworks by Jo-Ann Morgan evolved out of a convergence of global, personal, and national events. By March 2020, the coronavirus had become a worldwide pandemic. Confined and seeking a time-intensive activity, she bought a sewing machine and commenced learning to use it. She first created a female figure as a focal point and named her Nuestra Dama de la Corona (Lady Corona). The image was intended as a comforting presence, not unlike a deity or favorite doll. Wearing a crown, gloves, and mask, Lady Corona offered comfort to children at the US/ Mexico border, demonstrated in support of Black Lives Matter, and paid tribute to people who had passed. As the work evolved, other figures took on a similar role.

Morgan uses machine quilting with applique to construct compositions in layered cotton fabric. Quilted comforters are familiar and approachable, making the medium ideal for addressing provocative topics related to social justice and inequality.

In the same month Morgan began sewing, Breonna Taylor was killed by police, as was George Floyd shortly thereafter, expanding the movement known as Black Lives Matter. These and other national events became her subject matter. The compositions were inspired by spontaneous memorials communities erect following untimely or tragic deaths. For example, after eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot down by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri (2014), a memorial tower of flowers, candles, and teddy bears was constructed at the site.

In addition to artwork commemorating the lives of Taylor and Floyd, This exhibition includes quilt memorials for Elijah McClain, Aurora, Colorado; Ronald Green, Monroe, Louisiana; and Ahmaud Arbery, Brunswick, Georgia, all of whom died as a result of an encounter with police, or, in the case of Arbery, a retired policeman and his son. In recent work, Morgan has memorialized the nineteen children killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. She says of this series, “I consider artmaking to be a form of activism. My artworks address the cruelty and folly of gun violence.”

Reception: May 25 at 2 pm

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