Gina Adams: Broken Treaty Quilts

Gina Adams

Gina Adams created a series of Broken Treaty Quilts.  Starting with existing antique patchwork quilts, Adams then stitched passages from treaties that have been repeatedly broken between the USA government and indigenous tribes since the early 1600's and the Canadian government and indigenous tribes since the mid 1700's.  These treaties were varied in their purposes, but most of them had to do with the land that the settler peoples wanted.  The artist chose fabrics with varied contrast and changed the word order in order to make the text difficult to read.  These obstructions serve to remind the viewer that the original treaties were written in English, a language not wholly understood by the First Nations chiefs, but still they were asked to sign.         

Gina Adams was a professor at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada between 2019 and 2022.  The controversy about her claim to have indigenous roots herself makes it difficult to find more recent information about this artist.     

Broken Treaty Quilts: antique quilts with hand sewn calico letters.  Variable dimensions.