The Patchwork Healing Blanket project is an initiative of the artist and curator Marietta Bernstorff to process through plastic creation the social and personal wounds caused by violence against women, girls and the environment. This is a collective project in which the efforts of women from Mexico and other parts of the world unite to shout “¡Ya basta!” in the face of the lack of respect for their bodies, their lives and their natural environment. Through the integration of images and texts elaborated by hand, in a context of sorority, a space is opened to recognize the seriousness of the abuses experienced and the union is summoned to fight against them.

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In 2020, 600 squares of fabric intervened with embroidery, painting, photography, engraving and other applications were sewn together to form a huge blanket that was unfurled in the Zócalo of Mexico City. The project continued at a national and global level during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which the problems of gender-based violence worsened throughout the world, since many women and girls found themselves locked up with their aggressors.  

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The circulation of this visual material and the management of dialogues and awareness to counteract the culture of violence are also an integral part of the project. At the beginning of the confinement period, the Healing Blanket was the subject of a virtual exhibition at SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center/Centro de Recursos para el Arte Social y Público) in Los Angeles and since then the project has continued to be disseminated through of conversations in various communities and institutions. With this exhibition at the Antiguo Colegio Jesuita Cultural Center, we return to the face-to-face dynamic that enriches direct exchange and the experience of affective support that characterize the Healing Blanket. 

 

                                         Karen Cordero Reiman