“I’ve been a hard worker all my life, but ‘most all of my work has been the kind that ‘perishes with the usin’,’ as the Bible says. That’s the discouragin’ thing about a woman’s work...if a woman was to see all the dishes that she had she had to wash before she died, piled up before her in one pile, she’d lie down and die rights then and there. I’ve always had the name o’ being a good housekeeper, but when I’m dead and gone there ain’t anybody goin’ to think. o’ the floors I’ve swept, and the tables I’ve scrubbed, and the clothes I’ve patched, and the stockin’s I’ve darned...

But when one of my grandchildren, or great-grandchildren sees one o’ these quilts, they’ll think about Aunt Jane, and, wherever I am then, I’ll know I ain’t forgotten”.

“Infinite Power” is a quilt piece in which I seek to dismantle the lie that has been told to and  about black and brown women. A lie that I myself bought into far too long. The idea that black  women are powerless is a tool that has kept us victimized at our very core. What anyone  believes to be true about herself becomes her reality and one that can be very hard to  overcome if we internalize it. After the outcome of the 2020 elections were largely determined  by the black, and specifically, the black female vote, I think we can begin to see what we can  achieve when we join forces. The lie that we are powerless was told to us not because it was  even remotely true, but rather because of quite the opposite. If we had always known how  powerful we are, we would have long been a force to be reckoned with. Our power is  inconvenient to certain unjust systems that have been in place for generations. Reclaiming our  power is an invaluable step towards social progress. “Infinite Power” shows four black women  of different social standing and in different fields, each capable of creating change through her  art, activism, music, and politics. The sooner each black or brown woman or girl recognizes  her own power, the sooner and the greater the social change we can make.

After spending all of 2020 apart from one another amidst grave turmoil, many are still experiencing an alienation from life as they’ve known it, seeking to reunite with their communities as well as ideals that we can embrace and be proud of. This year’s edition, FAMA Quilts, speaks to the spheres of experience we’re still grappling with as a collective, both socially and privately, and weaves the participating artists’ stories into one large quilt. The goal of 2021’s edition of Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse, is to physically and intellectually unite their stories and, in many cases, their answers to what plagues us. A return to textile art inspires us to interrogate our intricacies in the same fashion fibers intertwine to create a well-rounded composite, cluing us into how society can break free, and ultimately cure itself, from distance, hate, separatism, and all the ills come to light that defined 2020.

"SUCK IT UP Is Not Tolerated is an apology to my partner, who I said “suck it up” to when he started his business and was experiencing anxiety. The phrase is dually influenced by tennis player, Mardy Fish’s rejection of what he identifies as the American “suck it up mentality” in the documentary, Untold | Breaking Point. I feel that patience, tolerance, and safe spaces are needed in contemporary expression. We’ve become so removed from person-to-person check-ins that we’ve lost intimacy, and one’s mental health can be at risk without the other knowing it. I dream of a world where psychological health is part of universal healthcare. Felt is a caretaking fabric with loosely woven fibers pressed together. My banners take shape from Medieval banners and crests. I reference Joseph Beuys and his narrative of a nomadic tribe of Tartar herdsmen rescuing him through his use of felt and fat as symbolic materials in The Sled from 1969. I can rescue myself and my family from the notion that you “suck it up and move on” without dealing with the emotional residue of the past and present by opening up a space to be more tolerant emotionally for my communities. Is this mentality rooted in Western civilizations, the Industrial Revolution, or part of our capitalistic mindset?"