Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis camouflages embroideries of war, injustice, and resistance in a patchwork of antique redwork embroideries.  Patriotic imagery, homey domestic scenes and fairy tale characters are juxtaposed with embroideries of traumatic events. Making this piece, I have been thinking about how history is recorded in the domestic sphere; about patriotism; and about the stories we tell ourselves as we try to make sense of the world in which we live. 

Redwork embroidered quilts were popular home craft from the mid-19th century through the early 20th century. As I began collecting redwork for another project, it struck me that some images—particularly those of Indigenous people—read very differently today than they had at the time they were originally embroidered.  Originally embroidered as nostalgic imagery commemorating a pioneer narrative, today these stereotyped images are a reminder of the dark history concealed beneath the veneer of patriotic narratives. The disjuncture in past and present readings of these images became the starting point for Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis.

The project evolved further when, searching for antique fabrics on eBay, I stumbled across red work patterns from WWII that included tanks, fighter planes and guns—bringing the narrative of war directly into the domestic sphere of decorative craft. 

Eventually, the project grew to include images from WWI, WW2, The Vietnam War, The War on Terror, Black Lives Matter, and the current war in Ukraine.  Guest artists created sets of embroidery patterns that reflect personal histories:  Lolita Newman commemorates her ancestral connection to slavery; Ghazal Tahernia documents the Iranian Revolution; Star Nahwegahbo communicates her truth as an Indigenous woman; and Sophia Boyadjian ties the history of the Armenian Genocide to present-day events.

In the summer of 2018, I began inviting people for monthly embroidery bees in my Toronto studio. Over morning coffee and sushi lunches, we sewed and listened to one another’s stories. In January 2020, I moved to Windsor and, a few weeks later, the pandemic struck. I shifted the project online and began sending free embroidery kits to participants by mail. To date, over 200 people have contributed embroidered motifs to the project. You can see their individual contributions and read their words here.

Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis is a perpetually unfinished work. New participants are welcome to request free embroidery kits here. At each exhibition venue, local histories will be marked with the creation of new patterns and community will be invited to participate in embroidery workshops.

The narratives referenced in this piece are sprawling and messy, they bleed into one another and are incomplete in the way that current history is always incomplete.  Some of the histories in this piece have been distilled into patriotic symbols; other histories I have referenced remain in flux—open wounds, gnawing questions.