Martha Ressler, 2-11 Shame

When I heard that the theme was “Shame” I knew that I would be taking a political and historical approach. Living in the US, I consider the greatest shame to be slavery and our failure as a nation to come to grips with it even more than 150 years later. Then the “shames” come tumbling on: near extermination of the Native population, imperialist exploitation of nations and peoples, continuing racism and xenophobia, economic inequality and women’s oppression.

I couldn’t figure out how to turn my feelings about slavery into a quilt. Meanwhile there was another “shame” that I live with daily.

And that is Deforestation.

Here is a snapshot right outside my front door today. What do you see?  A lovely scene?  Yes, but across the road you are also looking at two scraggly lines of trees, a still-forested mountain in the distance – and vast fields in between.

How about this seemingly bucolic view of a wheat and corn field in the summer?

All of this land used to be covered with forest. And the biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Yes, people need to eat but crop yields can be maintained and increased by sustainable farming practices without cutting down more trees.

Trees contribute to the quality of the air, lock in rich topsoil, act as a water purifier, and help cool the land. Forests are complex ecosystem which also affects other species on the planet which are losing their habitats because of deforestation.

There is even a direct correlation between deforestation and slavery, especially in the Caribbean and Central America where slaves were made to cut down vast forests of mahogany to plant sugar cane and other crops for export.

So — I am hard at work on my quilt about deforestation. There will also be references to slavery sewn into it.