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The Monument Quilt is an enormous quilt made as a memorial for survivors of rape. The quilt includes a collection of survivors' stories stitched, written, and painted onto red fabric.
Contents
The quilt
The quilt includes more than 1000 squares and over 700 stories by rape and abuse survivors. It has been publicly displayed in 22 cities in the United States and includes 1500 squares that spell out "Not Alone". The goal of the quilt project is to "create healing spaces by and for survivors." Visitors are invited to share their stories on designated blank squares when the quilt is on display.
History
The idea for the quilt originated with Rebecca Nagle and Hannah Brancato, artists based in Balitmore, Maryland. Having seen research that showed how public monuments, such as memorials for war veterans, could help survivors recover from trauma, they set out to create a monument for the survivors of rape. They co-founded and co-direct the arts and activist organization FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. As a call to create a permanent monument, FORCE coordinated the installation of temporary monuments to rape and abuse survivors on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Their first "guerilla monument" in 2013 involved floating lines from a poem in the form of giant, red styrofoam letters on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The poem's lines read "I CAN'T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED BUT NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS".
FORCE partnered with public safety organizations and community-based prevention groups who held quilt-making workshops and displayed portions of the quilt in public spaces. The quilt toured the United States in the summer of 2014. Starting at Arden, North Carolina, the quilt traveled to 13 cities.
In June 2015, the Monument Quilt was awarded part of the PNC Transformative Art Prize a $30,000 grant for display of the quilt in the autumn.