Soil Quilt (2023) is the recreation of a quilt made by my great-grandmother using soil collected from family cemeteries where I have ancestors buried. Soil samples from 14 different cemeteries (located in Tennessee and Texas) and my childhood home were used. Soil Quilt is both about family and composed of it. It explores themes of death, entanglement, embodiment, and connection to place.
Installed in the gallery site, at the end of the exhibition the quilt was swept up, reminiscent of a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala which among other things symbolizes impermanence. The quilt, once composed of carefully separated soil samples, now exists combined as a pile composed of a single new soil.
A map with locations of the Tennessee cemeteries can be found here.
Installation Detail Shot
Deinstallation