That Night

1994

31" x 30"

Hiroshima Series

This quilt is the first in the Hiroshima series. I had made an image of the moon on a murky night and constructed a quilt top.  My daughter thought it was too dark and dull.  I boldly cut it apart, added bright colors, and sewed it together with angles that make it look unstable.  As soon as I looked at the image I realized it could symbolize the smoke, fires, and destruction of that first terrible night in Hiroshima. The next day when I showed the unfinished quilt to a group of people, someone saw the shadow of a girl.  Later I found this poem:

Strength to turn a body in a girl who looks for her mother

                                    Shibata Moriyo

Poetry from The Atomic Bomb Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, edited by Kyoko and Mark Selden

Art Quilts by Barbara Moll