Go Home
Here is my latest finished quilt. It is called Go Home. It represents how sad it is that the Christian religion teaches that we need to help the ones that are less fortunate than us while at the same time some Christians are the most fervent opponents of immigration. I was mulling over this idea. I have been working with statues and monuments so I started looking for statues of Jesus.
Christ of the Ozarks
Turns out there is a statue of Jesus in Eureka Springs, Arkansas called “Christ of the Ozarks”. It was built by Gerald L. K. Smith, a politician that founded the America First Party in 1943 and was considered a white supremacist. I thought about how unfortunate it is that a person like Gerald Smith that had so many racist views built a 65-feet tall white statue of Jesus.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
What would he had thought if he ever saw the real Jesus walking down the street?
Yes, immigration is a problem in this country. It has to be solved but that doesn’t mean that we need to be cruel to those seeking help. I doesn’t mean we should let everyone in but that doesn’t give anyone the right to diminish a person’s value. The way some people talk about and treat immigrants is not what Jesus taught us.
Not What I Taught You
This quilt has given definition to my series Not What I Taught You. It will be a series of quilts that depict a prominent American statue or monument disappointed at the current state of the country. All these symbols represent supposed American values that at the moment are not part of our culture. We want to think those statues represent the things we treasure but is that the reality we are living?
In addition to Go Home, I have finished two other quilts in the series, Drowning Liberty and Blind No More. The Statue of Liberty’s torch is meant to light the path for all those who come to America. How many would want her to turn off her torch? Lady Justice is wearing a blindfold symbolizing how justice is equal to everyone no matter who you are, how much money you have or what you look like. How many times we have seen the rich and powerful massage the law and get away with crimes?
It has been a struggle to work on Go Home because part of me wanted to get my thoughts out and part of me didn’t want to think about it. There is a lot going on in the country right now and it is always on my mind. My art wasn’t giving me time to disconnect from it. It was doing the opposite. I was always angry but now that it is finished, I’m happy I did it. Now I need a break from this series but I’ll get back to it soon.
They say that you should never talk about religion or politics. Somehow I managed to make a quilt that talks about both. Am I ready for the backlash? We will see.
