Maximum Security: Panopticon Quilt
2018
shirts, calico, fabric printed with government and corporate surveillance patterns, surveillance cameras
83 x 65 inches

The cameras in this quilt collect images of the viewers who approach it.

Maximum Security: Panopticon Quilt, detail
2018
shirts, calico, fabric printed with government and corporate surveillance patterns, surveillance cameras
83 x 65 inches

The cameras in this quilt collect images of the viewers who approach it.

Nanny Surveillance Quilt detail
2019
Mens shirt underarms, shirt gusset and bottoms, spy camera

The underarms or pits of shirts become the all seeing panopticon in this quilt, while the spy camera collects images of the viewer.

Nanny Surveillance Quilt
2019
Mens shirt underarms, shirt gusset and bottoms, spy camera
67 x 83 inches

The underarms or pits of shirts become the all seeing panopticon in this quilt, while the spy camera collects images of the viewer.

Spike Island
2016
Uniforms, Calico, Fabric Printed with Security Envelope Patterns from Banks and Government-issued correspondence, bedding and buttons
83 x 65 inches, King Size
Spike Island in Cobh, Ireland, was built by the British as a fort and was later made into a prison. It became the largest convict depot in the world. Early IRA members were incarcerated here. This quilt is based on the repetition of the prison’s plan, which closely resembles a traditional star quilt block. Roughly the size of a king bed sheet, this quilt is pieced from fabrics printed with security envelope patterns, fragments of uniforms and dress shirts, calico, bedding and buttons. I used calico to reference both an exterior space, and ideas about trade and exchange. The British banned calico imports from India, and later became the largest textile producers in the world.
Spike Island, detail of quilt block
Detail of Maximum Security, Spike Island, with central block including uniform sleeve insert to resemble the eye, and reference the all-seeing panopticon.
Values Study, Maximum Security, Installation view with "Florence ADX a and b", and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Bedding, uniforms, fabrics printed with security patterns from bank and government-issued correspondence.
Each quilt measures 45 x 60 inches, approximately.
Florence ADX is a super maximum security prison complex in Florence, Colorado. The work consists of three crib-sized quilts that incorporate design elements from traditional “hugs and kisses” and fan quilts. I was surprised to find the shapes of the aerial views of these prisons resemble houses. Arranged from left to right, the background fabrics of the three quilts create a grey-scale from lighter to darker shades.
Bankrolling Climate Change Quilt over Bank Security Pattern Wallpaper
2013
Fabric Printed with Bank Security Patterns, Shirting, Bedding, embroidery
63 x 80 inches

Based on a Friendship Quilt, each quilt block is embroidered with the banks that contribute most to climate change, due to their investment in coal.

Bankrolling Climate Change Quilt detail
2013
Fabric Printed with Bank Security Patterns, Shirting, Bedding, embroidery

Based on a Friendship Quilt, each quilt block is embroidered with the banks that contribute most to climate change, due to their investment in coal.

Maximum Security in "Why Wallpaper" at the Villa Terrace Museum
2016
Quilt of Rikers Island and 50 States Wallpapers: Wisconsin and Rhode Island. Historic Wallpapers amended with Maximum Security Prisons
In Memory of Kalief Browder
2016
Plan of Rikers Island in pulled fabric, printed with security envelope pattern, bedding
6' x 8, the size of a solitary confinement cell at Rikers Island
This quilt was adapted from the popular quilt pattern tic-tack-toe.
Detail of In Memory of Kalief Browder, pulled thread
Maximum Security, Installation view with "P is for Panopticon" Quilt, Prints and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Each letter is made from the aerial view of a US Prison.
P is for Panopticon, Maximum Security Quilt
2016
Fabrics printed with security envelope patterns from banks and government-issued correspondence, bedding
67 x 76 inches

P is for Panopticon, Maximum Security Quilt appears to be traditional child’s alphabet quilt pattern—a grid of bordered blocks, each containing the appliquéd shape of a letter. The letterforms in this quilt are off kilter, replaced by aerial views of maximum security prisons. I found these aerial views on Josh Begley’s staggering website Prison Map http://prisonmap.com. When one prison on his site resembled an E, I wondered if I could find every letter in the alphabet in his database. I searched and began assembling an alphabet. It was devastatingly simple, with several prisons resembling S’s and many like M’s.


I cut the letter forms from fabrics printed with security envelope patterns from government and corporate correspondence, to locate funding that profits from mass incarceration. I use fabric from uniforms and dress shirts to pose questions about responsibility: individual, governmental and corporate, and bedding for the quilt back, which holds the imprint of the body.


P is for Panopticon, detail of 4 prison letters, from aerial views of US funded and privately funded prisons
Maximum Security, Installation view with "In Memory of Kalief Browder Quilt", Prints and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Maximum Security, Installation view with "In Memory of Kalief Browder", "Florence ADX a" Quilts and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Maximum Security, Installation view with "In Memory of Kalief Browder", "Florence ADX a and b", and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Maximum Security, Installation view with "Florence ADX, a, b and c" and Security Envelope Wallpaper
2016
Florence ADX is a super maximum security prison complex in Florence, Colorado. The work consists of three crib-sized quilts that incorporate design elements from traditional “hugs and kisses” and fan quilts. I was surprised that the shapes of the aerial views of these prisons resemble houses. Arranged from left to right, the background fabrics of the three quilts create a grey-scale from lighter to darker shades.
Storm at Sea Star Quilt
2010
Fabrics printed with Security Envelope Patterns
80 x 75 inches
Thompson Correctional Center
2015
Fabric Printed with Security Envelope Patterns from Banks and Government Agencies
60 x 60 inches
Quilt Pattern: Hugs and Kisses
detail of Thompson Prison
Maximum Security Alphabet
2016
Aerial views of prisons
Napkin Apparition 1
2018
paper napkin embroidered with guard tower
16 x 15"
Napkin Apparition
2019
paper napkin embroidered with guard tower
16 x 15"