For February's Quilt of the Month, we are sharing this incredible piece from DARNstudio that engages with racial inequalities through innovative design and unique materials.  

This quilt features custom-designed souvenir matchbooks sewn onto a raw-edged piece of grey felt with pink thread. Three of the four types of matchbooks used throughout the quilt commemorate George Floyd, Laquan McDonald and Daniel Prude. A single yellow matchbook at the bottom is used to date the piece.   

From the artists: Barcode entered our cultural lexicon in the 1970s when a pack of Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum was scanned at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Michigan. This efficient and effective method of representing and tracking data in a visual, machine-readable form; data represented by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines, not only proved successful in the streamlining of manufacturing processes but also for the rapidly expanding prison industrial system through the use of wristband tracking. Going back further in time, only a year following Reconstruction, we see the development of the American Bar Association and its Code of Ethics (Bar Code) with the preamble: “A lawyer’s responsibility is as a representative of their client.” It would take 65 years before the Bar accepted integration of African Americans in 1943. As of 2022, Black lawyers disproportionately represent only 5% of the legal profession.

"Barcode" is part of an ongoing series of artworks by DARNstudio titled "Another Country: A Quilt Cycle." It entered the IQM's collection in 2023. 

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