Forced Migration | SJSA Summer Artivists, 2019

We wanted to create a piece that focused on the first of the many horrific steps that African men, women and children endured for over 200 years that American slavery lasted. Africans were torn from their families and homeland. They were stripped of their tribal clothes and cast into chains. They became living cargo in the hull of a ship. The conditions in the ships hull were dehumanizing. Individuals were stored so closely together that they could not move. Many were unable to lay, sit or stand if needed. There was no comfort to be given by their captors. The long voyage brought about the death of many as the captives became sickened from malnourishment. Disease quickly spread below deck as the crammed slaves lay in their own waste. 
The  traditional blue of the American flag is represented as the ocean the ships crossed on their transatlantic voyage. The discolored dead bodies represent the dead who were cast into the ocean along with those who committed suicide by jumping to their freedom. The ocean became the new burial ground for the enslaved. The stripes of the American flag are layered over the ships hull covering the bodies of those in captivity creating a visual of how America was built, on the backs and broken bodies of slaves.

Materials: Cotton, batiks, donated fabrics
Techniques: Raw-edge applique, hand embroidered by Kate Godfrey, machine quilted 
Finished Size: 55" x 45"
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