STAR QUILT

This series of collages is inspired by the star quilt pattern—a symbol of warmth, resilience, and community. Growing up in Winnipeg, the image of the star quilt has stayed with me, particularly through murals by artist Kenneth Lavallee at the Edge Art Gallery and the Red Road Lodge. Lavallee dedicated these murals to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, making the star quilt pattern a powerful memorial and act of remembrance.

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In my work, I engage with the star quilt in the context of colonial harm, layering its association with quilting. Quilting has often been dismissed as “women’s work,” yet it is a practice that demands immense skill, precision, and time. The construction of a quilt requires careful planning, technical mastery, and a deep understanding of pattern, symmetry, and material. It is both labor-intensive and deeply creative, an art form that holds generations of knowledge, care, and storytelling within its stitches.

In these collages, I layer the star quilt pattern with images sourced from National Geographic magazines. These publications, often complicit in perpetuating colonial and white supremacist worldviews, serve as a stark contrast to the quilt’s tradition of care and survival. 

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By juxtaposing these elements, I explore the intersections of gender, labor, and memory, questioning how women’s histories are told, whose work is valued, and what stories are preserved.