No Words, 2020
Grief, Processing, Healing
Helen Blumen made this quilt as what she calls “grief work” after her son took his life, taking her title and imagery from the conventional words of sympathy so many offer to the bereaved: “there are no words.” Similarly, as Blumen writes, “I found myself unable to use words to share my son’s situation, my unfathomable grief, and the feeling that I would never fully make sense of this unexpected loss.” Using layers of white and off-white vintage linens and laces to represent negative space, Blumen “conveys the many-layered, messy, never-ending task as I try to deal with an irreplaceable and devastating loss and the complexity of my grief.” The lack of color contrast and wavy textures, she explains, is intended “to force the viewer to struggle to grasp for words just as I do.”
Cotton. Made and lent by Helen Blumen