This is going to be a long read but please, bear with me. I will be using the word ‘Fuck’ a lot. There is no point in this if we are too afraid to see a word. There are a few words that are considered ‘wrong’, though many also have alternative meanings that are perfectly acceptable. For instance ‘Evolution is retarded by an inability to look forward and adapt’. Words, when not used specifically to hurt you, are innocent. It’s just a word. A selection of the 26 letters of the alphabet in a particular order. It can only hurt you if you make it make you feel hurt. Fuck, however, is a brilliant word. It’s incredibly versatile.
Sat in the Stewards office at the Festival of Quilts, the subject of political quilts came up, it certainly felt like there were more there than usual. Over the years there have been many quilts with something specific to say. The point of art is to provoke a reaction, no matter what the reaction is. This year one quilt had a very subtle hashtag on it with the letters ‘FU’ in it. The organisers had one, just one, singular complaint about it by Saturday.
I pondered whether a quilt with the words ‘Fuck you’ on it, just large letters across a plain quilt, would be allowed to hang there. What started as a random thought became a much larger conversation. What if it was allowed to hang? Art shouldn’t be censored. If you are trying to put something across, would it be allowed even with profanity? There are children at the FOQ, (I shall have to find out how many children’s tickets they sold). How many adults would be offended just by seeing a word? The organisers did agree that if it were written backwards, ‘OUY KCUF’ it would hang. But whether they would hang it if written forwards? They weren’t sure. Certainly as art, it would be hung. And they don’t have rules about profanity that would instantly disqualify it, so they would have to make a decision, if that day ever came.
So, hypothetically, what if we took it further? What if it became a social experiment? Leaving ‘Fuck You’ aside and just going with ‘Fuck’ could we express a dissatisfaction at the world, and it’s politics, by quilting the word ‘Fuck’? What if we got as many people as we could from our group to make quilts that said Fuck and sent them all to FOQ. It could be paper pieced or applique. 3D letters and hidden in whole quilting. In different languages, backwards, miniature, quilt creations, a colour blindness test made with Kaufman Effervescence! Hidden in shadows, written in plain sight, written in backgrounds, done with dots so you can only see it from a distance, oblique, obscure, abstract… even just a very tiny Fuck hidden in the quilting to be part of something trying to express itself in our medium of choice. Even ones that say ‘F**K’ because you want to join in but it’s hard for you to just say it out loud. All those quilts pushing a powerful message that we are here expressing ourselves through the art of quilting, see us roar! (and some of us whisper).
We could have a competition to see who can find all the Fucks. Vote for the favourite Fuck. Who didn’t join in because they were too scared but afterwards wishes they had? Who proudly stood by their quilt and said, “This is my Fuck quilt”. There are around 1200 quilts displayed at FOQ, imagine if we could make 100 of them Fuck quilts? Would it be subversive or openly talked about? It would make a brilliant magazine article. Or, our own gallery with ‘Over 18s only’ signs. We could get some rope barriers!
But the big question is, who would be offended? The visitors are generally little old white ladies (don’t start getting offended at this point, if you are a LOWL you know it, but there IS an obvious lack of diversity there. And all that means is that we need to get more people quilting, to open our arms to anyone who is interested and say ‘Come on in, can I help you get started?) So, can you admit you swore when you was teenager and aren’t really offended by me saying Fuck so many times, or does it really hurt you in your soul? Would you feel a need to complain if you saw a quilt that said Fuck? Can ‘Fuck’ just be art?
What if it WASN’T hypothetical?
Please comment back on my post in the Social group rather than in here . The organisers of FOQ are also interested in your contributions on the subject. As the people who have to make a decision whether or not something can be displayed, they want know how you, as the makers of the quilts AND as the visitors to the FOQ, would feel about it. Because as hypothetical as this is, it is a serious subject and one that may be important in the future as people continue to express themselves through quilts. I look forward to reading your comment. Probably don’t actually type Fuck in the comments though because Facebook might censor them.
Thanks for reading!!