Mahilako Swastha Quilts 

In 2010, Peace Fellow Kate Bollinger worked with her host organization, the Women’s Reproductive Rights Program (WRRP), to help survivors of uterine prolapse tell their story through painting. The artists produced about 40 paintings onto fabric. These were then brought to the US and assembled into three advocacy quilts which have been used to promote WRRP’s work through exhibits around the United States.

The painting took place in the town of Rajbiraj, in the eastern district of Lahan. WRRP’s local office put out the word and about twenty women volunteered. As with other quilting projects, the project began on a note of uncertainty. Kate arrived after travelling for twelve hours in a bus. As she later wrote in her blogs:“We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we arrived. Would women show up? Would they be able to or want to paint?”

The team decided to use a traditional form of art that was familiar to the women:“As it turned out, there is a very traditional form of art – dating back to the 7th century called Mithila art which is localized in the eastern Terai where WRRP works. Mithila art is done by women, often painted on their homes, and was traditionally passed from generation to generation. However, in recent history, the practice started to fade. Certain groups have recently begun to revive the practice but, still, few village women practice Mithila art anymore. Because most of these women had never before touched a paint brush, we hired trainers to work with the women. The trainers were local women experts in traditional Mithila art.”

Like other groups that have worked on quilts, the women found the process empowering and uplifting. “The women surpassed all of our expectations. They worked for hours straight, first sketching on their cloth with pencils and eventually in paint. They helped each other and gave each other advice. On the final day at Rajbiraj, the women gave everyone hugs and expressed how much they wanted to be able to work on their artwork more.”Each painting was an expression of the artist’s own feelings and Kate captured this in a series of small videos on the artists. Sulekha Dev, pictured in the photo, described her painting as follows through an interpreter: “In this painting, I have made this woman who is suffering from third degree prolapse. She had the prolapse so she had difficulty in walking, eating, and speaking. She needed surgery. She was young when she was married. She lifted heavy loads. No one cared about her. And so she had the prolapse. When she came back after the [hysterectomy] surgery, she was still so young. She had a long life to live. She was happy. So, in this picture, she is collecting flowers to offer to the gods…. She feels so healthy… She feels so light.”

Mithila Art: The squares were painted onto fabric in the Mithila style of art, which has been in use in Nepal and northeast India for centuries. This painting by Bijili Yadav shows a women at work on a dekhi, which is used to grind rice and puts great pressure on the woman’s uterus.

Another artist, Phulo Devi Pahwan, said, “I have never done these kinds of paintings. I never handled a brush before the day we started this. I was wondering if I could do it or not. Now, after three or four days, my hands have become stable and it became easier.” Bijili Yadav said: “I used to weave baskets and prepare fuel from cow dung. But I have never done these kinds of paintings.” Many of these women expressed a strong desire to continue painting. They chose the name of Mahilako Swastha (“women’s health”) for their quilts.

Kate (photo) brought the paintings back to the US in October 2010, and AP then took them to the Faithful Circle Quilting Guild in Maryland Columbia, which had helped with the Congolese quilts and has many very skilled members. Sharon Rhoton, the Guild president, again took charge and identified three other volunteers – Nancy Evans, Alka Mital, Maria O’Haver.

The paintings were large and the decision was taken to make large quilts. While this would limit the space where they could be shown, the size would be imposing and eye-catching. Our quilting friends came up with many small refinements, including the insertion of a red band to offset red in some of the paintings. Maria rounded off the process by quilting around the figures within each painting so as to hold the paintings close to the backing. This was enormously time-consuming, but provided a wonderful finishing touch.

Assembling the Quilts: The Mahilako squares were attached to backing by Maria O’Haver, from the Faithful Circle Guild in Columbia Maryland.

The whole process took several months, and it was not until December 2011 that the quilts were first put on display at the Pilgrim’s Church in Washington. The two large quilts were then prominently displayed at the March 8, 2012 exhibition of advocacy quilts at the UN, held to commemorate International Women’s Day. An estimated 80,000 visitors viewed the exhibition.

The quilts were again displayed on several occasions in 2012, culminating in an important meeting at the Wilson Center in Washington. The event was organized to explore possible linkages between prolapse and fistula, and the quilts made a powerful case for not ignoring prolapse. Between January and September of 2013, the quilts were exhibited at Kean University where they attracted the attention of experts from the Kean School of Nursing.

One of the quilts was again shown at the Texsquare Museum in Washington in December. Among the audience was Kate Bollinger, who had done so much to produce the panels, and three quilters from the Faithful Circle Guild, who had assembled the final quilts. Alka Mital, one of the trio, looked on in appreciation as a doctor used the quilt to describe the many and varied horrors associated with prolapse. The story of the quilts was coming full circle!