UDHR QUILT PROJECT, 2017
a GROUP PROJECT
SELECTED - Museum of Australian Democracy Canberra australia
The UDHR Quilt Project originated in the USA having been initiated by Stephanie Dunlap (as illuminate) who was then joined by Tal Fitzpatrick in Australia who contributed to and helped realise the project. A call-out on social media resulted in 120 artists from over 23 countries participating, each artist stitching one of 30 Articles laid out in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Four quilts have been created.
Article 11 relates to the human rights of those charged with a penal offence
An original secondhand blue and white striped prison shirt was obtained with its very own ink stain and a clothing label with the words ‘HM PRISON’ still attached. The shirt material has been cut to the size of the quilt block and the label and stain have been reattached. The design is in the form of a prison cell.
The names and the number of years men and women who have been incarcerated in British jails, and have eventually had their sentences quashed, have been hand stitched along the stripes of the shirt fabric.
All of those named were imprisoned after 10th December 1948 when The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted.
Blue quilt courtesy of Tal Fitzpatrick
Four quilts courtesy of Tal Fitzpatrick
Measurement (individual blocks): 29cm x 21cm
Process: Hand stitch
Materials: Textile, silk threads, prison shirt
Exhibited in:
UDHR Quilt Project, Kings ARI Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2018)
UDHR Quilt Project, Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia (2018 - 2020)