Earlier this summer, I completed this memorial quilt for the family of Jimmy Atchison, to honor both them, and his life.
Jimmy was a victim of police violence, shot and killed (it seems) while scared and hiding from them, and there is a big hanging question on whether he was actually “guilty” in the first place. I would like to spend some time preaching about how this is so incredibly wrong, but honestly, it’s simple: the police are not supposed to kill people. Done.
This young man was a father, and a son, and a nephew, and a friend, and now he is lost, and all of those people are grieving. There is love left behind, but it is cloaked in grief, and nothing can change that now.
So. The Social Justice Sewing Academy, who I have volunteered with for some time, assigned me Jimmy and his family to create a memorial quilt, for their Quilts of Remembrance project. These quilts are created for the families of those lost, to offer them memory, solace, comfort.
To be frank, I really struggled with this project for a long time. How do you honor someone you didn’t know, with only a few facts about their short life? And as an artist, how do you create something that is still you, while being completely for, and about, someone else?
Within the few facts I had to work with, I knew colors that Jimmy loved (red and black), a few of his interests (basketball - specifically, the Lakers - and football), that he had two little babies, and a little peek into his dreams. Jimmy was an aspiring rapper, and had already put out some mix tapes in his hometown of Atlanta. (Add his group-mates to those who will have suffered from his loss.) So I had a few details I could include, but these details alone were not enough to pay tribute to a human life.
I was stuck with a few notions in my head that kept rolling around: first, that I am so interested in the symbolic meanings and names of quilt blocks, and second, that this quilt should honor both Jimmy and the people who lost him.
Working with a strict red-and-black palette, and a few themed fabrics thrown in for detail, I settled on a bold repeating design, a minimalist grid style I love to work with, and a traditional block called King’s Crown. To those who loved him, and mourn him, Jimmy will be remembered as a King in their hearts. When I came across it, I knew it was the one.
While the blocks themselves were perhaps my tribute to Jimmy (and the photos, which I had printed by Spoonflower), the border text* is my message to his family, friends, and children. They loved him, and this is my way of sending my love to them. A stranger, but one who has felt the pain of grief and knows how comforting the warmth of a quilt can be through that time.
All of this is for Jimmy, and all who loved him. My heart is with you.
* for the quilters out there, the foundation pieced alphabet I used is this one by AmararCreacions, and I can’t recommend it enough.