To: Women and Girls Foundation
100 W. Station Square Drive; Suite 315
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
It is my pleasure to gift you: Pussies Of America; 42”H X 54”H; Recycled denim, tee-shirt knits, Perle Cotton; Hand Embroidery, Hand Appliqué, Machine Piecing; $1200.00; 2017.
Pussies of America was one of over 500 quilts made in response to an open call entitled Threads Of Resistance. Pussies of America references a quilt I made in 1991 as part of The Great American Quilt Festival sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art. My quilt, Stars of America, featured fifty stars arranged as stars on a flag and highlighted fifty unique American items such as MICKEY MOUSE, ROUTE 66, APPLE PIE, and LEVI JEANS. It is now archived at the Heinz History Center.
For Pussies of America, I replaced the stars with fifty individual pussy hats, representing the handmade pink hats made to provide a unique collective visual statement of support and solidarity for women’s rights, first used during the Women’s March on Washington on November 23, 2016 and now as a continuing sign of protest.
On each hat is a hand-embroidered protest statement taken from the signs held at the march including such statements as: NOT MY PRESIDENT, I AM A WOMAN. WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?, PUSSIES AND RIGHTS ARE NOT UP FOR GRABS, THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE, I’VE SEEN SMARTER CABINETS AT IKEA, OUR BODY OUR MINDS OUR POWER, and THE WORLD IS WATCHING.
BubbeWisdom 