A 鈥淗ealing Blanket鈥� Against Gender Violence Created by 600 Women from Around the World
In 2019, there were mass protests against femicide (the intentional killing of females because they are females) in Mexico City. This was in response to reports that 10 women were murdered every day in Mexico in 2019. Protestors used many creative approaches to raise awareness to femicide, including scattering pink glitter and writing the names of femicide victims on the streets.听Curator Marietta Bernstorff started her own听initiative, called "La Manta de Curac铆on" which means 鈥淧atchwork Healing Blanket.鈥� Bernstorff worked with women artists from听Oaxaca and Mexico City to invite women from all over Mexico and the world听to make 鈥渁 patchwork cloth piece that speaks out against the violent crimes we are all witnessing.鈥�
Bernstorff and her colleagues received 600听patchworks from people from around the world, including from Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Tijuana, Greece, Spain, Canada, and the United States. The hundreds of patchworks were made using a variety of materials and methods like听paint, embroidery, and digitally printing and one patchwork incorporated听portraits of children and colorful words along with the words听鈥淪peak,鈥� 鈥淔orgive,鈥� 鈥淗eal鈥�. Some are memorials, others are adamant calls for action (鈥淪top Violence鈥�). They are, above all, celebrations and affirmations of women鈥檚 lives. 鈥淢aking these pieces was a form of healing for most of the women as they thought about their personal life, or their mothers or grandmothers life who had no voice,鈥� Bernstorff wrote in an email.听
The patchworks will be available for view through a virtual gallery听at the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California.听More information about the project is available on .
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