Every year I am asked to contribute artwork to the annual Dia de los Muertos exhibits and activities in town. In past years I have painted and stitched skulls, Catrinas, Frida Kahlo images, and marigolds. This year I felt a need to address a recent, more heartbreaking and tragic event: the shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Such mass shooting events, a common presence in the U.S. now, usually trigger the endless rounds of debates over gun control and mental health, with no resolution in sight, which only adds to the sense of futility. I didn't know how to address that in art so instead I created a series of prayer flags based on the Tibetan tradition, and also recognizing the Mexican decorative tradition of papel picado. Each flag, for each person lost, was created from bright colours of fabric because I wanted to express the vibrance of their souls and not their tragic, brutal deaths. In the case of schoolteacher, Irma Garcia, I added the name of her husband, placed together on their flag, since he died of a heart attack the day after the shootings.
The flags are currently hung in a banner across a wall at the Buddy Holly Center, above some of my older works. Here is part of the exhibit, plus each person's flag, with their names lovingly embroidered. My plan is to pass them on to the families in Uvalde after the show is over.
Techniques: piecing, quilting, crochet, and embroidery, with added lace.
https://www.internationalfolkart.org/visit/ Whenever you visit Santa Fe.
https://www.spiritualtravels.info/spiritual-sites-around-the-world/north-america/wisconsins-deer-park-buddhist-center/tibetan-prayer-flags/
