| The Midwives: Thank Heavens for Little Boys
Made for the traveling exhibit, 'Women of Biblical Proportions,' 2004,
curated by Ruth Harris and Chantelle Cory.
More information about this exhibit is at http://www.wobp-mobp.org/.
Coincidentally, the same
week I began brainstorming this quilt, I received from my husband's
oldest brother a large box of family photos. Many were of unknown
people--- my husbands' parents and grandparents had died long before.
I
collaged the pictures of the males for the panel at the right.
Infants, boys, teenagers, men, from formal portraits taken in Russia in the
early part of the 20th century, to casual snapshots from New Jersey, circa
2001.
The central
photo, of the women representing Puah and Shiphrah--- the midwives who
defied Pharoahs' order to kill the Hebrew boys---came from the same box.
I felt that their
faces convey determination, a deep bond, the kindness to blow bubbles for
babies (a tale from midrash), and the chutzpah to lie to a Pharoah .
Photo quilts --especially photos from the lost world
of prewar Europe--have a deep resonance with Jewish quilter. This
preoccupation comes up many times in the quilts sent to me by other quilters, in
the Gallery pages.
Photos and text were
printed to fabric using
Bubble Jet Set .
|
Batikey Matzoh Cover. Jane Sassaman's book 'The Quilted Garden' gave
me courage to make my own matzo from scratch!
(or rather, from brown and gold batiks). The lettering was printed on
pink fabric treated with Bubble Jet Set.
