Nation Time 2020: Power and Protection From Racial Terrorism

Nation Time : Contemporary Art Quilt by Betty Leacraft

Nation Time 2020 is a highly symbolic quilt calling attention to recent lynchings of POC since the murder of George Floyd. These violent acts are still an unresolved issue at the federal level. All should be concerned that a reintroduced law, banning lynchings in the USA, is currently being held up by “one” representative.
My visual narrative has purposely eliminated swinging bodies! It focuses on assigned definitions via culturally encoded use of color, cultural symbols, body parts, blood splattered letters, and irregularly stitched “trauma lines” within the quilt's red and green quadrants.  Eyes and Fingers are metaphors that speak of past and present victims of lynching peering, pointing at the perpetrators, their enablers, all who were silent in the past and now.
The colors red, black, and green, arranged vertically, make up the Pan African flag representing solidarity among people of African descent particularly in North America.
My collection of protective objects inspired the stylized Hand of Fatimah and Black Power fist. Two Ghanaian Adinkra symbols are centered within the hand and fist. The open hand displays a symbol representing a fence that “surrounds” a home, blocking out harmful influences, offering safety to all within. The raised fist also contains a fence reference, as links in a chain, regarding unity and strength within a group of individuals working toward the collective good of all.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved By Artist

Featured in:
We are the Story
Specific Exhibit:
“Racism: In The Face Of Hate We Resist"
Major exhibition curated by Carolyn Mazloomi
Presented by Textile Center & Women of Color Quilters Network
September 10 – June 12, 2021
Minneapolis, Minnesota

(at bottom of page you can download PDF of Call for Quilts with more information about the exhibitions and organizers.)

Nation Time 2020 : Contemporary Art Quilt by Betty Leacraft

Promotion for Exhibition in Minneapolis, MN
Textile Center & Women of Color Quilters Network

materials and techniques: 

Fabrics: hand painted cotton (by the artist), domestic cottons, Ghanaian cotton print fabric backing and cut out motifs, cotton batting, cotton/poly thread; machine stitching, raw edge applique, digital embroidery (Adinkra symbols), stitching in the ditch.

dimensions: 
36 x 36 inches