By Marissa Manitowabi
Last month, a quilt project initiated and sponsored by the Native Roots Artists Guild had an opening at the Iroquois Indian Museum. The quilt, titled “Honoring Our Women as We Piece Together Our Stories”, has the work of 47 women from six Native nations (Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora, and Metis) and seven territories. Each quilt block was designed, sewn, and beaded in honor of Native women of influence in the lives of the contributors. The quilt squares were done in the style of a legging corner, with designs and colors inspired by a collection of flat beadwork at the Peabody Essex Museum created by Dorothy Blacksnake Jimerson and Lena Snow. The opening represented the culmination of several months of work to gather the stories and photos about the honorees, which we were able to share with the public through an interactive kiosk made possible by a Humanities of New York grant.
The quilting project began with a lecture by Mohawk elder Norma Jacobs on the Tuscarora reservation in an evening that was sponsored by the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force’s Tuscarora office in December of 2017. She helped to set the intention of the quilting project as a vehicle for healing, because it gave an opportunity for representing stories of women’s resiliency in the community. The quilt was completed in September of 2018 in time for the Seneca Nation Fall Festival Art Show, where it was awarded Best in Show. At the opening, many of those who contributed to the quilt spoke about their blocks and the women who inspired them. Shortly after that, it traveled to the Mohawk Nation Akwesasne reservation, to the International Iroquois Beadwork Conference where it was displayed for two days. Again, many of the contributors to the quilt were present to speak to its significance. It then traveled on to be shown at a gala in Ohsweken, Ontario, that was raising funds for Ganohkwásrâ, an organization that addresses domestic violence issues on the Six Nations territory. In January of 2019, the quilt was exhibited at The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg, Wisconsin as part of an exhibit titled Native Fiber.
The weekly beading sessions where these quilt pieces were created became spaces where the women would talk about their honorees while sharing sewing techniques and assisting one another to make progress on their squares. The story sharing was often emotional, especially for those who have honorees who have passed on, but in the end there was more laughter than tears as we worked. If you didn’t get a chance to see the quilt while it was at the Iroquois Indian Museum, it will be exhibited at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum in the Fall of 2020.
