Ser Mujer Goes to Washington!
Trish Snyder
Ser Mujer is a group of Mexican, American and Canadian women who have organized in San Miguel de Allende to highlight the successes and struggles of women around the world. Our group is local but the scope of our mission is international. Our programs are social justice oriented and have included plays, workshops, films, lectures, art and quilts. Ser Mujer is supported by donations from local businesses, many of which are women-owned and by ticket sales to our events held during Women’s History Month. Many events are free. All are affordable. No one is turned away.
Thanks to the efforts of volunteer Lauren Marks, Ser Mujer was part of a project that was 6 years in the making. After 49 displays in 33 cities across the US and Mexico, the Monument Quilt was displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC last week. It involved 3,000 stories and 3000 quilt squares from survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence. Ser Mujer became involved when we sponsored a workshop for social service agencies on how to identify and support survivors of sexual violence. Participants created quilt squares. In a separate workshop, Ser Mujer volunteers created additional squares. Those squares became part of the much larger project, the Monument Quilt.
In 2015 and 2016,there were three exhibitions in Mexico City. In 2017, an impressive display on the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, highlighted the high rates of sexual violence among undocumented immigrants on their way to the US. The Ser Mujer quilt squares were there thanks to the efforts of Yolanda and Victor del Rio who delivered them to the border. Canadian artist Jen Brown donated one of her paintings to be made into quilt squares (pictured below with Lauran Marks.)
Quilts came from Mexico, Palestine, Thailand, Serbia, Argentina, Paraguay, Bangladesh, India, Honduras, Japan, South Africa, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Germany, Argentina, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Philippines, Canada and Zimbabwe….and San Miguel.
Quilts came from Mexico, Palestine, Thailand, Serbia, Argentina, Paraguay, Bangladesh, India, Honduras, Japan, South Africa, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Germany, Argentina, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Philippines, Canada and Zimbabwe….and San Miguel.
To view the Monument Quilt and see the Ser Mujer squares, go to app.themonumentquilt.org. Search these block numbers 698,718,719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 741, 748, 749, 751, 752.
