HOW MANY CARDS?

1000 postcards for our friends.

Hope in the Neighborhood.

The quilt they called 'theirs'.

for 3 blog posts about

this quilt & the people

who wanted this postcard -

from the 'Back of Beyond'.

click here.

"I WANT TO LIVE THERE."

So everytime we showed the Mahalla quilt, there were wordless expressions of surprise, delight, embracing, ahhhs and great big smiles!

With her hand at her chest, one woman said, "It feels close."

Another said, "This (one) is ours."

A young woman looked in wonder at the quilt and turning to me said, "I'm speechless!"

After hearing about the 3 golden houses being an encouraging, healthy mahalleh to live in, one woman put her hand by that area and said in earnest, "I want to live there."

I love to standing to the side to let others tell the story of my quilts in the local language. I've done this in Asia, Africa & the Pacific Rim. Here it was happening again. In 2 of the photos I am off to the side, watching and listening, just where I like to be, letting the quilt 'speak' through others.

In one group creative ideas were thrown around for other, simpler ways to picture the story. Inspired by a book of collages I had shown earlier, one of our new friends quickly drew the mahalleh scene, folded it acordion style into a little book & handed it to me. Wow! And I love the fox! (pictured)

Why did this quilt work so well? An expat, though having never visited their country, created their style of houses, on their street, their mahalleh, & their culture. Even their traditional ethnic fabric, Atlas, was designed into the quilt. They were amazed, delighted, encouraged and honored by this quilt. Photographs, fabric scraps, thoughtful content and a little creatively made it happen. It brought me great joy to see the joy it brought to all who saw it.

HOPE IN THE MAHALLA part 2

Going to take you on a little trip across the quilt in this post. Took some close-ups today.

The first 3 mahalla homes are about the process toward hope. With so much domestic violence in the home, it is a pretty dark place. The entire family is affected. We heard the stories. Pretty hopeless. A dead tree and blackness in the home.

The red and white windows are about the possibility of change. Someone does care. A home full of peace & love is possible. The tree sprouts new growth. We met people who had experienced this, filled with hope and a radiance about them.

The turquoise door is still the power & protector color but the power is from a different source. The dead snake is an important part of that story.

The grape arbor is about 'fruit' that grows with change - love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, patience, self control.

We added a little velcroed fox, making the quilt interactive. They loved it! The fox could come steal the fruit so one must be vigilant.

The final three homes are about community. The golden lines suggest neighbor visiting neighbor - a sense of healthy community. It is an encouraging place to live. People in this neighborhood share the fruit with the people struggling in the dark house.

Of the three, this was the favorite

quilt in each group. Their comments tomorrow.

Hope in the Mahalla

art quilt by m.malwitz

hand dye fabrics; atlas fabric from the region; buttons, beads; metallic effect thread; sequins; rubber stamps.

HOPE IN THE MAHALLEH

I'm thinking this part of the story will take a couple of posts! Lot's to tell. Mahalleh is 'neighborhood' in this part of the world. First picture is the mahalleh we lived in for a couple of days. Note the low, mostly white buildings, unpaved street & trees. There is probably a grapevine arbor in the front of someone's house

further down the street. You see them everywhere.

Next is the quilt,

Hope In The Mahalleh,

which I made a bunch of years ago for my first trip to this region of Asia. At that time my friend, who I team taught with on this trip, was living in another country of this region. We collaborated on this quilt using elements she saw in other art quilts in my studio. Photos of her mahalleh (similar to the 1st photo) inspired the street scene. Turquoise is the color of power and protection in their world view, so adding that was important.

Now what about the cats!?! (Click on the quilt to see them.) When I was finishing up this quilt, my friend said it would be OK to add some whimsey, like the stray cats in her mahalleh. In my enthusiasm I added 12! But for this trip back to the region we decided the cats were distracting & I removed 9. The 3 on the roof stayed as that is where they like to hangout anyway.

One of my greatest pleasures as an artist is seeing people engaged with my artwork. The scene in the 3rd photo was repeated many times, over 2 weeks. They loved seeing the quilts up close and personal. Tomorrow...more of the mahalleh story.