SONG QUILTS: A CELEBRATION OF STITCH AND SONG

The Song Quilts project visually interprets folk music from the American South and the Russian Arctic. I have traveled across the US and Northwest Russia interviewing women and gathering their songs. From these field recordings, I create transcriptions of the folksongs and transform them into quilts. I developed a notation method that translates pitch into color and rhythm into shape. The quilt notations are direct transcriptions as they were sung to me by the women who participated. The result is a synesthetic meditation on the power of women's voices and folk traditions across diverse peoples. Each Song Quilt celebrates the contributions of “women’s work” to national identity, global culture, and shared traditions.

-click through pictures to full quilt profiles-

This project would not have been possible without the help of Ekaterina Sharova of the Arctic Art Institute, and a grant from the PUFFIN FOUNDATION