Quilted
Continuing our reflection on works of art in our new exhibition, We Remember: Stories from the September 11 Memorial & Museum, we turn to the most profound works that connect us to those lost in the World Trade Center attack of 2001. These works not only document that unimaginable event, but they also remind us that the creative act is a healing salve which moves our mourning back toward living. We turn to the many quilts included in the exhibition.
Because quilt making correlates deeply with psychological, physical, and community healing through a blend of sensory engagement, expressive art therapy, and historical traditions of collective grief, it is no surprise that the tragic events of 9/11 saw one of the largest grassroots textile responses to a national crisis in modern history.
The physical act of cutting fabric and stitching it back together serves as a direct metaphor for emotional healing: taking fragmented feelings, memories, or life changes and assembling them into a cohesive narrative. Quilting requires breaking down a large project into manageable geometric pieces and reuniting them into a structured whole, restoring a sense of agency, order, and tangible progress. The rhythmic, repetitive motions of measuring, cutting, and stitching trigger a state of meditative flow.
Following the loss of 23-year-old Peoria native Charles “Chip” Chan’s, students, faculty, and former classmates at Richwoods High School in Peoria, Chip's alma mater, came together to design and stitch a 12-foot memorial quilt. On September 11, 2002, on the first anniversary of the attacks, the completed quilt was formally presented to Chip’s parents, John and Julie Chan. Through their donation of the quilt to our permanent collection, this beautiful object now contextualizes a global historic event for local students and visitors, grounding national tragedy in a deeply personal story from their own community.
Similar to the AIDS Memorial Quilt of the late 1980s, quilt making provided a decentralized, accessible medium for people who felt helpless after the tragedy. Contributing a single embroidered or pieced block allowed ordinary citizens to participate in a shared, visible effort of national healing and remembrance.
We Remember: Stories from the September 11 Memorial & Museum is presented by the Bielfeldt Foundation.
Sponsored by Advanced Medical Transport, RLI, Mike and Lori Gudat, Patricia and Anthony Cutilletta, Sally Snyder, Lisa and Bob Gates, Craig Kliethermes, John and Julia Chan, Sid P. Ruckriegel and Andrew A. Rand Charitable Foundation, America 250 donors, Visionary Society.
