Violet Protest Project: Sister Linda Hayes Participates in Collaborative Textile Art

This project was conceived by Arizona artist Ann Morton, who uses traditional textile techniques as tools for aesthetic, social communication to examine a society of which we are all a part - as bystanders, participants, victims and perpetrators. In addition to her own personal handwork, Morton’s practice includes orchestrating public projects that call for collaboration between herself and community participants that advocate awareness of social issues of mutual concern.

The Violet Protest is a public effort to send hand-made textile squares to each and every member of Congress in support of these core American values:

• Respect for the other
• Citizenship
• Compromise
• Country over party and corporate influence
• Courage
• Candor
• Compassion
• Creativity

The color violet symbolizes the literal combination of red and blue, long held as symbols of our nation's differing ideologies. Our common goal is to send a physical message of friendly protest through a colossal visual expression to demonstrate that if we as citizens are willing to come together, so then must our elected officials.

For over a year I have joined over 1,900 fiber artists from across the country in producing over 14,000 textile squares (8” X 8” in size).  I am currently working on my fourth set of 50 squares.

Once the exhibition is over, the artist and her team will package ​the squares for each and every US Representative and Senator! Each square will carry a tag with a name, state, and a brief message and  be accompanied by a photo of the actual installation shown above in the artist's rendering. They will be sent off to the 117th Congress of the United States in late 2021.

Sister Linda Hayes, OP