Ellen Koehn

The title of this piece, "Collateral Damage" is the phrase used by many government officials to describe the civilian casualties in a war; they often reply, "yes, there will be some collateral damage". Human beings are not statistics.

The figures on the tombstone represent the children and women of both the United States and Iraq. "Voiceless" describes their status. The white dove caught in the wire structures represents the fallen peace of our lives. Quilting above the tombstone represents the alarm, fear, and trauma this war creates for all of us. The quilt is quilted with words representing the truth this war will bring to many women and children: homelessness, loneliness, hunger, pain, anger, fear etc.

This is not a pretty quilt. It may not be effective art. It is my expression of outrage and frustration with the consequences of a war where the people
affected the most have no voice in the matter. "

I really let the feelings rip when I was quilting all the words on this piece! (no swear words, of course). Very different piece for me to do; I guess that is what 'challenge' is all about.