ARTIST STATEMENT
Quilts speak to care and domestic space. They are objects of comfort and protection. Referencing both memes found on social media and protest signs, these works were accessible to me, even when I was too unwell to work in my studio. They were born from a time when I was frequently housebound, and in fact, some of these works were made from my sick bed. I refer to them as Slow Memes (Protest Quilts).
Memes and protest signs are necessarily made in haste, in order to spread ideas quickly. Emergencies require fast action, and in times of political turmoil and great change, legitimate emergencies are everywhere. In the absence of a true emergency, capitalism loves to keep us grinding, for its own sake. This of course, is not sustainable.
The body – particularly the disabled body – cannot be rushed, and by nature has no value under capitalism. Like so many other marginalized groups in the United States, disabled people are under attack, and our rights are being stripped away. Our value isn’t acknowledged, we are unprotected. Already silenced and excluded from institutions and public spaces through a lack of accessibility, it feels as though no one can hear our cries of dissent.
Although these protest quilts were made slowly, their messages are urgent. The invitation is to slow down, to move out of reactivity if possible; to change the rules of the game and recognize that it is okay to fail to live up to capitalist expectations and demands.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lindsay Lion Lord (b. 1985) is a neurodivergent art witch currently based in Wichita, KS. She holds a BFA in Visual Art from The University of Kansas and is an MFA candidate in the Fibres & Material Practices program at Concordia University in Montreal, QC (2025). The current focus of her research hovers around the intersections of science, magic, religion and the body. As a blind person with synesthesia, Lord seeks to translate her sensory experience of the world while addressing issues of trauma and healing, belief, disability and death, systems of care and systems of control. Lord works from a feminist, anti-capitalist and disability justice lens. Her practice is rooted in drawing, and she invites the Sun (which is a star) to collaborate with her through making cyanotypes. Her work most recently finds its form in dye work, quilting, weaving and felting, and has been shown in Canada and the US.
© Lindsay Lion Lord