ADVOCACYNET 429, June 21, 2025
Butterfly Quilts Raise $7,400 for War Survivors in Uganda
Sister Artists use butterflies to forget the horrors of rebel captivity
Katelyn DiBenedetto from the Zonta Club of Washington was among visitors to the recent exhibition of butterfly quilts. Zonta has supported AP’s quilting program since 2007.
An auction of butterfly quilts that were jointly crafted by fiber artists in Uganda, the US, Canada and Kenya has raised $7,400 to support a tailoring business for the artists in Uganda.
The 37 quilts were exhibited recently at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum before being auctioned online. Click here to see a moving collage of photos from the exhibition, entitled Freedom.
This was the third exhibition of art quilts known as Sister Artists, an initiative of The Advocacy Project (AP) to encourage collaboration between artists in Africa and the Global North.
Previous projects have featured village scenes from Northern Mali (2020) and Kenyan wildlife (2023). Eighty-seven quilters in Canada, Kenya, the UK and the US have contributed quilts for the three projects.
The Ugandan butterflies were embroidered last year by ten members of Women in Action for Women, an association of women who were kidnapped in their teens by rebels and have used embroidery to help rebuild their lives.
Their first stitching project, in 2021, described their captivity in harrowing detail. In sharp contrast, their butterflies hover effortlessly in tranquil settings.
Several quilters from the US attended the recent exhibition in Washington and said they had been motivated by the resilience of the Ugandan Sister Artists. They also described the creative reasoning behind their designs.
The highest bid went to Under the Mango Tree by Bobbi Fitzsimmons, who coordinates AP’s quilting program. Bobbi designed her quilt around a photo of Concy Ajok, one of several WAW artists who attended her embroidery training in Uganda in 2023. Bobbi’s quilt shows Concy stitching under a canopy of mango leaves made from fabric.
Following the recent exhibition, Bobbi and two other quilters met on Zoom with four Ugandan artists who expressed astonishment that their butterflies had inspired such delightful artifacts on the other side of the world.
“I am really shocked!” said Margaret Akello, who stitched the butterflies for Hold Fast to Dreams, a striking quilt that shows a young African woman dreaming of butterflies. The quilt was made by nine members of Women’s Wisdom Art, a stitching community in San Francisco.
Ellen Fisher from New Hampshire, who also attended the recent exhibition, explained that her quilt On Their Way has been inspired by how the artists in Uganda had emerged from slavery to rebuild their lives. Ellen’s quilt shows a swarm of butterflies heading up into the light after a painful journey.
Nancy Hershberger from Pennsylvania, drew on the same theme for Transformation and Freedom and said she had been “brought to tears” by the stories from Uganda. Her quilt shows two hands reaching up to release colorful butterflies against a stormy background.
Susan Louis from New York used a technique known as “crazy quilting” to make Peaceful Butterflies in a Crazy World and felt she had built a bridge between Africa and the US, however modest.
“It makes me feel really good, especially with what’s going on now,” she said. “It’s thrilling to do something that’s positive and really makes a difference.”
Another heartfelt expression came from Dawn Piasta in the Canadian province of Manitoba, who made Butterflies are Free from the embroidery of Mary Atim, a founding member of WAW. Mary passed away in a tragic accident last December, and Dawn’s design shows a butterfly escaping from a cage.
Proceeds from the auction will go to WAW in Gulu, Uganda to launch a tailoring business. A portion of the money will be set aside to help one of Mary Atim’s surviving sons attend a technical training college.
Aaron Bailey, an AP Peace Fellow who is volunteering in Gulu this summer will meet with the WAW Sister Artists to help draw up a business plan. Aaron, a US Army veteran, is studying for a Masters degree at Texas A&M University.
Check out Freedom, our moving photo collage of the recent exhibition
Want to help? Please consider purchasing butterfly tea towels through our online store, Southern Stitchers.
Nighty Achieng, seen here with Peace Fellow Aaron Bailey, will help to coordinate the tailoring project at WAW. Nighty made butterflies for the Sister Artists quilt challenge and holds a tea towel that carries her design. The towels can be purchased here.
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