The ‘We Are Home’ community quilt project is an interactive holistic work engaging the extended Tenderloin community in expressing the significance and meaning of ‘home’ through building a collective quilt.
Led by Mattie Loyce, DISH’s Community Development Manager, this project focuses on amplifying the voices of people who have the lived experience of homelessness, those that care for, or live and work in community with unhoused neighbors.
We began our work with asking:
What does home mean? Is home a physical, emotional, imagined, or sensational place? What is the difference between a house and a home?
Creating Together
From the fall of 2022 through the spring 2023 the ‘We Are Home’ quilt project hosted workshops throughout Tenderloin where individuals participated in creating their own unique quilt panels responding to the reflective prompts.
The inspiration for this project was born from the legacy of The AIDS Quilt and builds on the overall legacy of quilting as radical and comforting community arts practice. In the face of housing crisis, overdose crisis, and pandemic, the intention of this project is to create a connecting precious ‘object’ as well as experience that serves as a healing totem for the collective, and especially the marginalized populations most affected. This is the second quilt project created by Mattie Loyce in partnership with Mary Hogue of Mission Praxis, following the ‘Hope Quilt’ which was completed in May 2021.
Timeline
2021: Mattie Loyce completed the Hope Quilt in collaboration with Mary Hogue of Mission Praxis; Hope Quilt included artworks for 50 DISH residents and staff across our Tenderloin sites
Summer 2022: Beginning of project thanks to the awarded Cal Humanities Grant
Fall 2022: Start of the ‘We Are Home’ Tenderloin Community Quilt Project with workshops across all 9 DISH sites and several collaborative Tenderloin Community Organizations (Tenderloin Museum, Hospitality House, and Healing Well)
Spring/Summer 2023: Mattie Loyce granted Inaugural Curator in Residence award with CounterPulse Gallery to present the We Are Home Community Quilt ‘In-Process’ Exhibition May-August
Fall 2023: Exhibition of the completed ‘We Are Home’ Community Quilt at Root Division Gallery in November 2023
Contributing Artists
Antone, Wanda, Mike, Vincent, John, Andre, Krystle, Laurie, Deje, Miguel T., Sheeka A., Angelina W, Darlin, Rich, Sheeka A., Barry, Sam, Ms. Lynda, Sherri L., Miriama, Tammie B, Ibrahim, Euselyn, Hazel R., Sherri L, Gerardo, Inary, Oscar, Maya, Mili, Christian, Barbara, Yunus, Charles, Babaji Puri, Star, Roger, Eli, Rodney, Angel Eyes, Cynthia, Felicia, Hank, Elaine, Sundiata aka Sunny, Race, John H., David, Ivy Rose, Fidel, Felix, Taquwa, Ms. Janet, Theresa, Damien, Misty, Tasunna, Elizabeth, Ruben, Francisco, Calvin, Leslie, Krystle, Ashley, Francisco, Adriana, Chano, Ken, David James Crenshaw, Claire, Naomi, Fidel, Ahmed, Ivan, Sirah, Laura and Grandson, Elizabeth, Coco, Shay, Spencina, Adriana, Egur, Angelina, Jai, Angela S., Johnny B., Anya, Michael, Tricia, Betty T., Kristi, CAP Art Studio, Winnie, Zen, Javier, TNDC, Josue, Alex S., Otis, Joseph, Katie, Michael, Keisha, Darlin, Marcela, Iyari, Charles W., Mary, Jeremy, Cesar, Peter, Benito, Denise, Martin, Angelina W., Lashawn, Damien, Fidel, Ralph, Christian, Lewis B., Cricket, Christian, Theresa, Helen G., Olivia, Joseph S., Mattie, Brian B., Betty, Trujillo, Boo
Thanks to the organizations that have collaborated with us to make this project a reality!
The ‘We Are Home’ Tenderloin Community Quilt project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.