The Patchwork Healing Blanket: An Ongoing Network of Resistance to Gender Violence

This paper will explore the history, dynamics, and continuing projection of The Patchwork Healing Blanket/La Manta de Curación, an ongoing textile art project that processes through artistic creation the social and personal wounds caused by gender-based violence. Originated as an initiative of Oaxaca-based Chicana artist and curator Marietta Bernstorff, Patchwork is a collective project in which the efforts of women from Mexico and other parts of the world come together to shout, “Enough is enough!” regarding the lack of respect for their bodies, lives, and natural surroundings. Through the integration of images and texts elaborated in an artisanal manner and in a context of sorority, this work demands public recognition of the inadmissible abuses committed and urges union to resist them, as well as nurturing processes of emotional support and interpersonal dialogue. In January 2020, 600 cloth squares intervened with embroidery, painting, photography, and other applied elements--many accompanied by texts that elaborate on the experiences represented--were sewn together to form a huge blanket that was unfolded in the Zocalo of Mexico City. Since then, the project has continued and expanded on a national and global level, through web-based and in-person workshops, exhibitions, and roundtables. The paper will analyze the diverse aesthetic and political statements that are placed in dialogue through The Patchwork Healing Blanket and its reception both from an artistic and an activist perspective, as well as the challenges it presents in comparison and in relation to other collective public art initiatives regarding gender violence.