QUILT INDEX RECORD

45-46-28

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Quilts and Human Rights Project at Michigan State University Museum; Arizona Quilt Documentation Project

Who documented this quilt?

Quilts and Human Rights; Migrant Quilt Project; Arizona Historical Society - Arizona History Museum

Documentation Project Number:

Arizona Quilt Documentation #MAZ 22006

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number here.

TS 2020.1.7

Essay:

This quilt was created to 237 migrant deaths that were discovered in the Tucson Sector of the US Border Patrol during the 2006-2007 federal fiscal year. Some of the materials used in the quilt include discarded migrant clothing collected in the Tucson Sector. Every known migrant death from that period is inscribed on the quilt either with the individuals’ names, if known, or the word “desconocido” or “desconocida” (Spanish for “unknown” in male and female word forms). The Migrant Quilt Project is grassroots, collaborative effort of artists, quiltmakers, and activists to express compassion for migrants who died in the Southern Arizona deserts on their way to create better lives for themselves and their families. Materials used in the quilts were collected at migrant layup sites used for rest and shelter on established trails in the Sonoran Desert. The Migrant Quilts carry the stories of those who died so that viewers of the quilts may understand the real, personal, and fatal results of inhumane immigration policies.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Migrant Quilt: Tucson Sector 2006-2007

Subject of the quilt:

Migrant, death, skull, Arizona, desert, stars, cactus

How wide is the quilt?

60"

How long is the quilt?

81" + fringe

Shape of edge:

Straight

Describe the edge:

Fringe on the bottom.

What color is the quilt?

Beige; Black; Blue; Brown; Burgundy; Cream; Fuchsia; Gold; Gray; Green; Navy; Orange; Pink; Purple; Red; Rust; Teal; Turquoise; Yellow; White

Overall color scheme:

Multicolor

Describe any colors not included in the other color fields:

Neon lime green

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

20

Size of quilt blocks:

14.5" x 14.5"

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

Woven sash as border on top of quilt

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton; Cotton or polyester blend; Linen

Fabric types used to make the quilt top:

Broadcloth; Handwoven; Other

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Batiks; Floral; Hand-dyed; Novelty; Solid/plain; Striped; Unknown

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

Denim

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Piecing

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Applique; Fusible Applique; Blanket, buttonhole, or other decorative applique stitch

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Attachments (beading, charms, buttons, etc); Embroidery; Painting

Embellishments used:

Beads attached; Buttons attached; Charms attached; Cotton thread; Metallic thread; Ribbon thread; Synthetic thread; Other attachments

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

No filling

How are the layers held together?

Machine quilting

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Meander/free motion; Outline; Stipple

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Stipple

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Color of thread used in the quilting:

mutli

How is the binding made?

Unfinished/raw edge

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Describe the back:

Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain

What color is the back of the quilt?

Purple

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

Type of inscription:

Date; Multiple Names; Message; Place

Method used to make the inscription:

Attached label; Computer generated; Embroidery

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

Tucson Sector 06-07 and 1/2-0/18

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Front: a poem, a story, Tucson Sector 06-07, and 237 migrant names or the words desconocido/a.
Back label: This quilt was lovingly created by the Tucson Community, Jody Ipsen, Diana Rix, Laurel Wilson, Sharon K. Peake, & Rev Bobbi W Harglerod, Mary Vaneecke, & others 1/20/18

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

This quilt was created over a period of years, by many people, including members of the general public who decorated precut denim patches at community events. As such, each block is unique, but the quilt achieves visual unity with the use of color and balanced arrangement of its varied motifs.

When was the quilt started?

about 2010

When was the quilt finished?

2018

Time period:

2000-2025

Why was the quilt made?

Commemorative; Memorial; Mourning

Details about why the quilt was made:

Social justice/human rights awareness

Quilt is presently used as:

Exhibit; Museum collection

Where the quilt was made, city:

Tucson

Where the quilt was made, county:

Pima

Where the quilt was made, state:

Arizona (AZ)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Where did the maker get their materials?

Old clothes; Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Discarded migrant clothing collected in the desert (not from deceased migrants), and found objects.

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

List exhibitions quilt was shown at:
Jan. 20, 2022-Feb. 28, 2023: Los Desconocidos: The Migrant Quilt Project, Arizona History Museum, Tucson, Arizona.
Jan 14-Mar 15, 2020: Migrant Quilts Exhibit, The Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Indiana University, Bloomington,
Oct 28-Dec 9, 2019: Migrant Quilt Project, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and Lutheran Church of the Reformation, Washington, D.C.
Aug 3-Sep 26, 2019: Migrant Quilts Exhibit, Indiana Interchurch Center and St. Peter’s UCC, Indianapolis, Indiana
May 12 -Jul 7, 2019:  Migrant Quilts Exhibit, Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Chandler, Arizona
Mar 15-Jun 27, 2019: Los Desconocidos, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Feb 25-Apr 20, 2019: Broken Threads, Lives Unraveled: Fuentes Rojas and the Migrant Quilt Project, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson, Arizona
Jan. 17-19, 2019: Border Issues Fair, The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ, Sahuarita, Arizona
Nov 13 – Dec 7, 2018: Migrant Quilts exhibit, Brown Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio
Sep 14 – Oct 14, 2018: Migrant Quilts exhibit, Urban Edge Gallery, Waukegan Arts Council, Waukegan, Illinois
Aug 6 – Sep 4, 2018: Migrant Quilts exhibit, Loutit District Library, Grand Haven, Michigan
May 1, 2018 – Jul 15, 2018: Beyond the Border Wall: The Migrant Quilt Project, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts
Mar 1-26, 2018: The Migrant Quilt Project, St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church, Green Valley, Arizona
Feb 1 – 28, 2018: What the Eye Doesn’t See Doesn’t Move the Heart: Migrant Quilts of the Southern Arizona Borderlands, Pimeria Alta Historical Society & Museum, Nogales, Arizona

Artist statement or biography of quiltmaker or quilt group:

For over a decade I’ve hiked in the rugged Sonoran Desert to prevent migrants from dying of dehydration and exposure. In 2007 I decided to create the Migrant Quilt Project out of the abandoned clothing that migrants deliberately left behind. The border crossers’ personal items became the fabric for the quilts as they best represented the difficult journey they made in order to find a better life inside the United States. The clothing, often sun bleached and worn, created the backdrop in which all the quilts were made. Sometimes the quilts are embellished with rosaries, prayer cards, pesos, and milagros in order to illuminate the plight of their migration.

As I worked to prevent the deaths in the desert, I enlisted quilters and textile artists to create quilts that would highlight the border deaths. Through the alchemy of found items we drew attention to the border crossers’ stories through quilting, an American folk tradition that often speaks to human rights issues.

Over the course of several years, I worked on the 2006-2007 quilt with others. The names we embroidered or painted onto jeans and shirts were a rallying cry for humane immigration reform. I found the work profoundly sad yet cathartic. I decorated the quilt with dignity for the deceased so that if family members of the decedents found their loved ones’ names on it, they would know that someone created a memorial for them and that their lives and deaths were not in vain. While the quilts carry a political message, they are first and foremost a living memorial to all those who died while pursuing the American Dream. It is my greatest hope that you find these quilts inspirational so that you may champion humane immigration reform.

(Statements by other makers of this quilt can be found in the Quilt Gallery at https://migrantquiltproject.org/)

Quilt top made by:

Ipsen, Jody; Rix, Diana; Wilson, Laurel; Peake, Sharon K.; Harglerod, Rev. Bobbi; Tucson community members

Quilted by:

Vaneecke, Mary

Quiltmaker's city:

Tucson

Quiltmaker's state:

Arizona (AZ)

Quiltmaker's county:

Pima

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quilt owner's name:

Arizona Historical Society - Arizona History Museum

Source of the information on this quilt:

Terry Grzyb-Wysocki and Peggy Hazard

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Donated to the collection by the Migrant Quilt Project.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public Museum, Library, or Institution

Quilt owner's city:

Tucson

Quilt owner's county:

Pima

Quilt owner's state:

Arizona (AZ)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Contact:
Arizona Historical Society - Arizona History Museum
949 E. 2nd Street, Tucson, AZ 85719
Registrar Jace Dostal jdostal@azhs.gov

When was the form filled out?

9/2/2022

Who photographed this quilt?

Wilson Graham

Details

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