Polaroid Quilt

Year: 2024

Media: Quilt with natural and synthetic dyes, vinyl, and polaroids

Dimensions: 25’ long

This 25-foot quilt weaves together stories of memory, relationships, and the enduring beauty of community. Created over nine months, it features pockets made of vinyl that cradle polaroids documenting Mother Cyborg’s life and her connections with her community during the exhibition’s creation. The quilt reflects the ebb and flow of relationality, honoring the moments of intimacy, joy, and legacy shared between people.

Drawing inspiration from Sadie Benning’s experimental films—which explore themes such as gender, ambiguity, play, intimacy, and identity—Mother Cyborg examines how the oversaturation of digital photography in the smartphone era affects our relationships and our ability to communicate vulnerability. With countless moments reduced to fleeting data points, the depth and authenticity of shared experiences can be lost. By contrast, the polaroids in this quilt, tangible and intimate, reclaim relationality, serving as profound reminders of the care and connection required to nurture current and potential human bonds.

Photography, Mother Cyborg’s first medium, deeply informs this work. Portraiture, with its capacity to capture the fullness of a human being, becomes a means of exploring the nature of relationships: what they need to thrive, who comes and goes, and the legacies left behind.

Through this piece, the artist invites us to reflect on the beauty of our interconnected lives. “If I am a reflection of my community,” she says, “then I am absolutely gorgeous.”