Social Fabric: Quilting and Singing in Community

Aurora Choir Promo shoot on Oct 26, 2022. Shot by Danica

In this opening event for the Luther College Suture Exhibition, Luther students in Aurora will be performing folk songs associated with Mexico, Columbia, and Venezuela. The two songs that will be performed, “La Llorona” (arranged by David Conte) and “Duerme Negrito” (arranged by Emilio Solé), deal with mourning, labor, and separation.

Additionally, local quilters will discuss techniques and motifs that will assist people in interpreting quilts. Participants will have the opportunity to try their hand at a small sewing project to better understand the intentionality of quilting.

Following the event, there will be time to observe the new installation of a selection of quilts from the Migrant Quilt Project in Luther College’s Suture Exhibition.

Suture: A Migrant Quilt Project Exhibition
In 2022, over 800 migrants died on the U.S.-Mexico border. Longstanding discriminatory U.S. border policy and racist rhetoric dehumanizes people who attempt a crossing. Through stitching the names of people who have lost their lives along the border, the Migrant Quilt Project steadfastly acknowledges the humanity of migrants. Quilts in the exhibition are separated by year, with each quilt made out of materials left at migrant lay-up sites. The Suture Exhibition in the Union Gallery explores context and statistics for border policy, quilts that memorialize migrants who have died on the border, and ways that people can be involved in advocating for social justice.