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| Royal Proclamation of Canada (front), Hand cut calico letters on antique quilt, 2017 |
"When information is brushed against information..." (McLuhan, 76)
Gina Adams' work is a remarkable interplay between clear illustration, and abstract patterning. When the newly made (but history containing) letters interact with the vintage quilts she uses, her quilts show both injustices and the intersectionality of American identity. New information rubs onto the old to create something unique.
I found her Treaty Quilts really interesting conceptually. She could've chosen to make her own quilts to put the letters on, or some other material completely. But she chose to use these vintage, very American style, quilts. So there is this interplay between the letters which are about broken treaties and injustices done onto Native Americans, and these handmade quilts that are objects of comfort. Adams' is placing this history that is very inflammatory too many Americans onto these placid fabrics, something that reminds many people of their Mothers or Grandmothers. In a single piece of art she is able to track both Native American and American history and their intersections.
While not the same medium, her quilts remind me a lot of our experimental video works. This interplay between normal narrative and experimentation. Many of our videos obscure the self or the narrative with distancing techniques done through editing. Her quilts do something similar, where the front shows the Treaties name and the first parts of it clearly, but the back becomes this hard to read interaction between shape and color. Not only is this interesting from an aesthetic point of view, but is also calls back to the fact that so much history has been ignored or whitewashed in this country.
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| Royal Proclamation of Canada (back), Hand cut calico letters on antique quilt, 2017 |
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