The First

When I read about Project Quilting Season 12’s opening challenge, Illuminating + Ultimate Gray (a nod to the Pantone colors of the year for 2021), the concept for my quilt submission, The First, came to me immediately.

Why “The First”? Well, it’s the first challenge of the season, but it’s also a nod to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The best journalists use their skills to enlighten and inform … to illuminate those gray areas in society so we can all see. And for those reporting on people in government, that they go to work under risk being harassed, assaulted, imprisoned, or murdered is the ULTIMATE in speaking truth to power. 

“The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.”

—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

My quilt is a flashlight, made from a news article, shining a light on the darker bits of society. The 274 quilted circles throughout the quilt represent the at least 274 journalists around the world in jail in relation to their work as of December 1, 2020, a new record high.

While no US reporters are currently behind bars for their work, 2020 was an especially dangerous year for them here at home, with at least 110 arrested or criminally charged in relation to their reporting, and around 300 journalists were assaulted, the majority by law enforcement.