Quilts for a river

activism

Why we quilt? So many are the approaches to expression mediums, that this is the title of a book collecting diverse replies from re-known quilters speaking of the power of art, activism and community. The instances of creativity obviously include political quilts.
Time has come for some of my work to take this role!

May a quilt save a river?
If not one quilt, let’s try with three of them.

As soon as I heard on the media that our beloved main river of the region, Tagliamento, is endangered, all the stories in my memory, and all the material I composed, thanks to my long relationship with the river, joined forces.

I already created three quilts dedicated to Tagliamento river: the first was “King”.

“King” is inspired by the colors of river Tagliamento, said to be king of rivers of the Alps. It’s been, up to now, one of the few rivers in Europe having unaltered stream during all its route, from spring to sea. Recently approved highway construction plan threatens its course!

Tagliamento river water occasionally submerges under the rocks, and re-emerges after a while, a fascinating mechanism due to varying permeability of its riverbed: thus, lower part of composition is blending to white as the colors of river stones.

On “Tumbleweed” quilt, my log cabin piecing looked like the plants that break away from their roots and are driven around by the wind as a light rolling mass. Tagliamento riverbed hosts migrant plants; its natural territory has been subject of important scientific studies.

My most recent quilt is titled “Dam”: this name refers to a moment of play of my son with his friends, on the upper zone of Tagliamento river, accumulating stones in fancy shapes along the water. It was slightly raining but we could not stop staying there. While I climbed the stream towards the spring, I recalled my ancient love for this wonderful river.

Looking for my earlier work which represents my feelings for Tagliamento, was like reconnecting with my inner self: and I found plenty of material.

I wrote a travel diary of riverbed explorations: it is now available at this link, in e-book format.

I dedicated many years to photography: my favorite shots of Tagliamento river are now collected in a virtual gallery.

May this inspire you to act?

Invitation is here: sign the petition on change.org to give Tagliamento statutory protection, by its enlistment as Unesco World Heritage.