TU’s Kalima Young to speak at Monument Quilt display on National Mall

By Rebecca Kirkman on May 30, 2019

For three days beginning Friday, the National Mall in Washington D.C. will display The Monument Quilt, a public art project made by and for survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence.

TU electronic media and film faculty member Kalima Young will speak at the event with Julie Rhoad, president and CEO of the Names Project Foundation, on Saturday, June 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

In their talk, Young and Rhoad will discuss the history and presence of the NAMES Project, an ongoing ritual for grief for those lost to AIDS that inspired The Monument Quilt.

"The quilt will occupy this national site to demand that our country face the realities and complexities of sexual violence and finally demonstrate real support to victim/survivors," says Young, who is on the leadership team for FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, a Baltimore-born art and activist collective that organized The Monument Quilt.

"Every attendee and every person affected by sexual and intimate partner violence will finally hear the message, 'You are not alone. We believe you. You did not deserve it.'"

Made of 3,000 quilt squares that are 4-feet wide, The Monument Quilt spans four football fields and will spell out "Not Alone," and "No Estás Solx" (Spanish for "not alone.")

First displayed in 2014, the quilt has traveled to 49 locations across the U.S. and Mexico. This weekend's event is the largest display and marks the culmination of five years of local, national and international organizing to invite a diverse group of survivors and supporters to create thousands of quilt squares.

The three-day event is open to the public and will feature art-making, performances, speakers, workshops and a public healing space.

As part of an intentional spaces committee, Young worked to create opportunities for healing within the quilt experience.

"There will be tents for grounding those that might be triggered by the quilt itself," Young said in an interview with WYPR. "There’s an art tent for people to participate and make art to tell their stories, there’s a community tent where we’ll be having a lot of community learning and skill sharing going back and forth, and a learning tent as well."

"It really is an opportunity to elevate the conversation but also acknowledge that these are human people behind every one of these stories, and we’re all going to be touched by it."

Towson University hosted the Monument Quilt on the College of Liberal Arts lawn in March 2017.

For a full schedule of the weekend's events, visit themonumentquilt.org.

This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel’s priorities for Towson University: TU Matters to Maryland.