Displacement

This week I have been posting on Instagram about my recent textile investigations. The theme the series was displacement from home and becoming a refugee due to war, persecution, or famine.
A quilt signifies warmth, comfort, and security, in this series those signals are disrupted to signify the effects of displacement on individuals. Traditional quilting materials and techniques are subverted and combined with newsprint which signifies the urgency of newsworthy events.

Dislocation

Dislocation (2025) Mary Whitehouse
Mosaic patchwork of hexagons, incorporating porcelain pieces, some pieces reversed to show papers

Displacement  means leaving home and the regular pattern of life. Sometimes not everyone is able to leave, and those that do leave a gap behind. Other people or things make take up the space of those that leave.

The grandmother’s flower garden is easily recognised as a traditional quilt, therefore when pieces are displaced, out of place or missing that can signify a displacement.
Quilting cottons signify the cosiness and tradition of a hexagon pieced quilt.  But the ceramic tiles disrupt that pattern and comfort, they don’t quite fit into the spaces left behind.
Many mosaic hexagon patchworks are never finished, the papers remain in place, and often draw the attention of the viewer as much as the fabrics on the front. The newsprint here tells the story of war and displacement.

Below the line (2025) Mary Whitehouse
Mosaic patchwork squares printed papers hanging below.

Below the line

After success in a recent election, a new Mayor suggested that asylum seekers should be housed in tents not hotels. Such public comments encourage others to make unpleasant comments below the line in social media posts, and in some cases follow this up with violent actions.

Drawing on the design of many traditional ‘make do and mend’ quilts, made from in a random array of squares, this piece is intended to show the disintegration of a regular pattern.
Piecing papers in the ‘quilt’ were taken from Refugee Action materials written to support activists.
The double-sided papers at the bottom were printed with text from ill-informed comments about asylum seekers below postings by the Mayor on Twitter (X) and YouTube.

Distress (2025) Mary Whitehouse
Half-square triangle patchwork layered with newspaper and calico, distressed with devoré paste.

Distress

Displacement from home easily leads to distress. What happens when the forces that cause the distress continue relentlessly and there is no protection?
Many patchwork quilts are made with scraps of material left over from making clothing, the insulating layer in the middle would often be an older quilt or a worn out blanket. Sometimes there has been no middle layer, or it has worn so thin that it is almost invisible.
Homeless people use cardboard and newspaper to insulate themselves from the cold ground at night. Here newspaper is used in layers between the backing and the patchwork.
Here the half square triangles have been layered with newsprint and calico. The quilt was then distressed using devoré paste.

Homeless

Displacement is a common cause of homelessness; we see that on our streets. How much worse to be homeless and in a war zone?

Original Photograph: Ihor Tkachov/AFP/Getty Images in the Guardian 2nd March 2023

My attention was caught by this newspaper photograph where contrast between the starkness of the foreground, and the beautiful still-standing church. 
Photograph printed on calico and layered with newspaper.

Inside page (2025) Mary Whitehouse
Woollen pieces quilted onto newspaper.

Inside pages

While headlines are full of Trump, or the latest doings of a celebrity, there are wars going on across the world, people being displaced, losing their homes. When even refugee camps are being attacked, and it still doesn’t make the front pages, we have to find ways to bring this to people’s attention.
Using the headline as the inspiration.
The traditional log cabin quilt block symbolises home, with the ‘home fire’ burning at the centre. A home attacked may just leave a pile of logs.
Scraps of Hainsworth felted wools signify warmth of the home, foundation pieced over a news article about attacks on refugee camps.

To come ….

My next post will be about the piece that will be at Festival of Quilts later this week.