Stitching the Wars, was a 2-year collaboration with older people in Derbyshire, initiated by artist Lois Blackburn, who met with local people to devise and stitch two quilts and gather reminiscence. Philip Davenport worked with the groups later to refine the material into poems, and short oral history interviews, which are embroidered into the quilts and punctuate the Stitching the Wars book. In a sense, this work is a history, with quilts the page on which it’s written.
The first quilt, A Bomber’s Moon, describes the transforming effect of the First and Second World Wars on rural life. An ancient world of horses and humans is invaded by machines. The quilt is an aerial view of fields and hillsides. Perhaps it’s the view from the bomber of the title? Into this “landscape” are sewn words and phrases that link to the reminiscence and poems in this book. As we read, it becomes evident that some of the words are in German — but whose side are we on?
The second quilt, Fresh Air and Poverty, describes a quieter war, the struggle everyday people made to keep their families fed and clothed in the years between and after the two World Wars. The richness of the materials used for this quilt belie the words: “Two little love birds, fresh air and poverty.” Here we find tramps on the march, children sleeping top to toe in crowded beds, scrimping and saving is everywhere. But we also find delight in one another’s company, human warmth despite the cold.
Many of the quilt-makers were people with dementia. We noticed the beneficial effect that group stitching had, joining people together in an act of making that had rewards (touch, colour, companionship, creativity) and an ambitious goal. Crucially, these richly associative pieces of heritage let people with dementia — people who’re usually excluded from history-making — have their say.
Awards
2015 Foundation Derbyshire Award for its mixture of inclusivity and creative ambition.
Participants
Approx 700 people aged between 65 and 101
Exhibitions
2017 Derbyshire Records Office (3500 visitors)
2016/17 Touring exhibition, Derbyshire Libraries (150,000) and Buxton Museum (16,950 visitors)
2015/16 National Trust’s Lyme Park, Cheshire (10,000 visitors)
2014 Hayfield Country Show (4000 visitors) Manifold Agricultural Show (6000 visitors)
Live Audience total 190,450
On-Line Audience
20,000 so far.
Legacy
In Autumn 2017 the two quilts joined the Quilters’ Guild Collection.
Poems, reminiscence, photographs, sound recordings from the Stitching the Wars project, housed at Derbyshire Archives.
More Information
Poem readings
Reminiscence, oral history
Poem collection: arthur-and-martha-poem
Diary, photos, information arthur-and-martha.blogspot.
On-line portfolio photos/arthur-and-martha
The big horses and little me Horses ploughing, the big horses get a collar on them - hardest job for little me the heavy harness, the straps, chains beautiful days, those smashing big horses. Pulling the implement in pairs they know exactly what's required. I'd love riding back on them after the day the big horses had more sense than us knew what they was doing, yes everyone saw them in the fields a horse trough in every town - then - wartime many slaughtered for meat the other stuff was rationed hard work getting the collar on when you're little how many times would you walk up and down the soft earth ride them bareback always a good mane to hang onto nobody in a rush a V-plough turns the soil spike arrows, then cut the furrow the big horses cultivate earthing rows to plant up cabbage, turnip, tatties little me and the big horses earthing the rows. George, Stan, Bert, Derek 11 March 2014 Bakewell
This is truly amazing and makes you realise how rich older people’s lives are, when they can so easily become discarded by society today. Wonderful! I will definitely be going to see them.
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Thanks for your kind words Tracey, I hope you get to see the quilts and have an opportunity to look at the book.. All the best Lois
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