• The Colors of Grief: A Quilt

    Author(s):
    Anna Ruth Gatlin (see profile) , Lindsay Tan
    Date:
    2019
    Subject(s):
    Research, Learning and scholarship, Quilting, Textile fabrics, Grief therapy
    Item Type:
    Other
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/vzv1-gc08
    Abstract:
    Everyone experiences loss. Whether it’s the loss of a job, a home, a person to death or illness, or a lifestyle, loss is a global construct. Everyone grieves differently, and every culture has its own set of rituals and traditions to deal with loss. Many widows in Russia, Greece, and Czechoslovakia wear black for the rest of their lives, while many Mexicans and Mexican-American communities observe “Dia de los Muertos” (the Day of the Dead). Every culture also has color associated with grief: many European and Western communities wear black as a cultural symbol of grief, while in Egypt, Mexico, and Ethiopia, yellow is a primary color of bereavement. In Korea, the Middle East, and India, white symbolizes grief. In Thailand, widows wear purple. (Knox, 2011). The Kubler-Ross Grief Cycle (Kubler-Ross, 1969) has been widely accepted and utilized throughout the Western world as a way to process grief. The stages of the model are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance (Kubler-Ross, 1969). I gathered scraps of discarded clothing from a local tailor representing the invisible community of grief. The quilt was constructed with a combination of mechanical and hand sewing techniques; using a sewing machine and my own hand stitching. The quilt, which measures approximately 66” x 66”, has five primary colorways, each associated with a stage of grief and a culture’s grief process: purple for Denial; orange for Anger; yellow for Bargaining; blue for Depression; and green for Acceptance. Because emotions and feelings undulate, the quilt visually undulates. Each quilt block has a dark side and a light side to illustrate the high points and low points of the grieving process. Within the green quilt blocks—the stage of Acceptance—each previous color is represented somewhere. It’s faint, because grief never really goes away and so neither do the colors.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Conference proceeding     Show details
    Publisher:
    Interior Design Educators Council
    Pub. Date:
    October 17, 2019
    Proceeding:
    Interior Design Educators Council Pacific West 2019 Conference Proceedings
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 week ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
    Share this:

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf the-colors-of-grief-a-quilt.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 3

    Back to Deposits