Var Gallery 30 x 30 x 30

My participation in Var Gallery’s 30 x 30 x 30 exhibit.

My entry for the 2025 30x30x30 exhibition is a series of quilts. Each quilt is a traditional quilt block with images from that day printed onto fabric then appliqued on top.

The pieces were studies in contrast. By placing news headlines against quilts, it created a tension between public and private spheres. By rendering them in a time-consuming medium, I compared the fleeting attention provided to headlines against the sustained attention required for fiber work.

I also hoped the pieces would work together as a whole—-visually appearing like a larger quilt when placed together in the grid. My favorite entries to previous 30x30x30 exhibitions had all consider time as one of the mediums of the pieces: bodies of work that showed pieces of the artist’s day-to-day. By using headlines, I hoped my pieces would similarly be rooted in the time of their creation, providing a narrative throughline across the month.

The pieces serve as a time capsule of the opening of 2025. I hope the viewer will reflect on which of the news stories are recognizable to them, and how those events fit in the chronologies of their own Januarys.

Official ordering

1. Day 21: Southport killer pleads guilty to murder of 3 girls, modified interlocked squares
2. Day 28: Doomsday clock moves one second closer to midnight, unknown block
3. Day 30: Thailand legalizes gay marriage, court house steps
4. Day 25: Haitian children reach a year without school due to gang violence, flying geese
5. Day 23: Australian monuments vandalized to protest national day, quarter square triangles
6. Day 16: Ceasefire finally reached in Gaza, indian hatchet
7. Day 24: Trump deportations begin, attic window
8. Day 13: Biden pushes policies in final weeks, quarter square triangle
9. Day 8: Los Angeles wildfires rage, nine patch
10. Day 5: Syrians enjoy new freedoms after al-Assad’s removal, modified snowball
11. Day 18: Maha Kumbh Mela festival begins, chevron
12. Day 26: Trump leaves Paris Climate Accord, drunkard’s path
13. Day 4: Honduran president threatens to expel US military, corner beam
14. Day 29: Trump moves migrants to Guantanamo Bay, nine patch
15. Day 27: Dozens dead in Maha Kumbh Mela Stampede, unknown block
16. Day 7: UK Special Forces face inquiry into war crimes in Afghanistan, unknown block
17. Day 11: Sudan’s military retakes Wad Madani after removing Paramilitary, quarter square triangle
18. Day 20: Trump inauguration, one patch
19. Day 1: New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, steeplechase
20. Day 14: South Korean president brought into custody following impeachment, pinwheel
21. Day 15: Ukraine without power following Russian missile strakes, lady of the lake
22. Day 2: Ukraine employs low-cost suicide drones against Russia, modified bouquet
23. Day 9: Guantanamo convict sues to stay in US Custody, log cabin
24. Day 6: Palestinians angered by Trump’s threats, square in square
25. Day 10: Migrants face uncertainty at the border, quarter square triangle
26. Day 17: Final migrant caravans attempt to reach US before Trump presidency, twin star
27. Day 19: Tiktok ban (briefly) goes into effect, interlocked squares
28. Day 12: Cabo Delago provence destroyed by Isis-Mozambique, shoofly
29. Day 22: Chinese New Year celebrations, snowball
30. Day 3: South Koreans protest martial law declaration, flock of geese