ADVOCACYNET 427 May 24, 2025
Ugandan Butterfly Quilts To Be Displayed and Auctioned
Sister Artists 3 celebrates collaboration between fiber artists in Africa and North America
Hold Fast to Dreams by Margaret Akello (Uganda) and Women’s Wisdom Art (USA)
The Advocacy Project is pleased to announce the launch of Sister Artists 3, a collaboration between fiber artists in Africa and North America.
The project comprises 37 spectacular art quilts on the theme of butterflies that were jointly made by 55 artists in Nairobi, Canada and the US. Their quilts will be exhibited next weekend in Washington DC before being auctioned.
The butterflies were embroidered by Women in Action for Women, an association of women who were kidnapped by rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda in their teens. The ten WAW artists have used stitching to help them regain their confidence and rejoin society. They described their ordeal for The Ugandan War Survivors Quilts.
Their butterfly blocks were completed last summer and distributed to 45 quilters in the US, Canada and Kenya to be assembled.
The finished quilts will be displayed at The George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum on May 30 and 31, followed by an online event on Sunday June 1 for artists and friends who could not attend in person.
The quilts will then be auctioned online. The auction is open for viewing and can be viewed here. Bidding will start on Wednesday May 28 at 9:00 EDT and close on Saturday June 7 at 6:00 PM EDT. WAW will use the profits to launch a tailoring business.
This will be the third Sister Artists quilt challenge since 2020. The two previous projects featured quilts from Mali and Kenya and raised over $12,000 for the artists in Africa.
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
In-person display at the GWU Museum & The Textile Museum, Washington DC
Dates: Friday May 30 and Saturday May 31
Times: Friday – 10:00 am EDT to 5:00 pm EDT; Saturday – 10:00 am EDT to 4:00 pm EDT
Reception: Saturday May 31 at 12:00 PM EDT
Location: 701 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20052.
Virtual event: You are cordially invited to meet remotely with the Sister Artists on Sunday June 1 between 12:00 pm and 1.30 pm EDT. Click on this Zoom link to join.
Online auction: The quilts will be auctioned between Wednesday May 28 at 9:00 am EDT and Saturday June 7 at 6:00 pm EDT. The auction can also be reached through the QR code below.
Social media: Look for daily posts on Instagram; Facebook; Pinterest; and Linkedin starting next week.
A companion catalogue with profiles of the quilts and artists will be available shortly for $30 and gifted to successful bidders. Place an order now and qualify for a 25% discount.
To Access the Sister Artists 3 auction on your mobile device, open the camera, hold your device over the QR code on the left and click on the “betterworld” notification.
Flight in Spring by Christine and Glendah
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