Quilting Water is an international public art initiative that gathers interviews about water primarily from racialized communities from the U.S. and around the world. The interview is built upon five simple questions about an individual’s memories, observations, and dreams/wishes around water—simply, our past, present, and future. We’re honored to work with local Camden Black artists, and others, who will construct quilts inspired by the Quilting Water archive and serve as guides throughout the project. We hope the archive and quilts will allow us to see relationships between disparate communities and their stories through water.
Quilting Water has gathered interviews about water from South Africa, Senegal, Cabo Verde, Japan, Puerto Rico, Belgium, the Philippines, the Atayal people of Taiwan, as well as right here in New Jersey. The content of these water stories are made available to local Black artists who craft quilts in dialogue with this global archive.
The six student artists, selected from across three Rutgers University campuses, are working collaboratively this semester, conducting interviews, examining relationships between disparate communities and their stories through water, and contributing to a growing collection of Quilting Water interviews from around the world. The cohort is being mentored by renowned artist R.A. Villanueva, and will produce a final group project at the end of their term.
Congratulations to Maria Loo (RU-Newark), Alyaa Mahmoud Awad (RU-Newark), LaRodge Johnson (RU-Camden), QueenTeja Cooper (RU-Camden), Shen Gong (RU-Newark), and Brandon Mejia (RU-New Brunswick)!
A collaboration between ISGRJ at Rutgers University—Camden and the ISGRJ-Office of Undergraduate Intellectual Life, the Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize brings together a vibrant community of artists and scholars to think and collaborate at the intersection of ecological and racial justice.
R. A. Villanueva is the author of A Holy Dread, winner of the 2024 Alice James Award, and Reliquaria, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). New work has been featured by the Academy of American Poets and National Public Radio—and his writing appears widely in international publications such as Poetry London and The Poetry Review. His honors include commendations from the Forward Prizes and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. Born in New Jersey, he lives in Brooklyn.
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND HONORS COLLEGE
Major: English and Political Science
"My history in the arts has primarily been through poetry, drawing, painting, and music. Writing
poetry in English and Spanish is one of the many ways I stay connected to my Latinx heritage."
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Major: Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Psychology
Minor: International Business
"Coming from an Egyptian family that treasures cooking as a form of storytelling to one that
embraces music as a universal language, I have always been surrounded by the beauty of art and culture. These experiences have shown me how powerful art can be in connecting people, preserving traditions, and expressing emotions that words often cannot capture."
RUTGERS-CAMDEN SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Major: Photography and Marketing, concentration in Digital Studies
"My photography career began by accident... I signed up for a film photography course in an attempt to take photos of my friends and myself, and I found my calling. Photography has allowed me to answer questions like what it means to be a black woman growing up in a country that viewed your ancestors as subhuman or property."
RUTGERS-CAMDEN
Major: Criminal Justice and Sociology
Minor: Psychology
"I was interested in participating in the QW UG Prize because I am deeply passionate about advocating for marginalized communities, particularly Black women. Writing creatively allows me to express these passions in meaningful ways, and I saw this opportunity as a perfect platform to share my voice and engage with work that aligns with my dedication to social justice and systemic change."
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Major: Undeclared
"I love all forms of creative ways of expression and have been fully immersed in exploring them growing up. I like to record life with photography, drawings and words daily. Many of my inspirations arise from nature, I enjoy reflecting on human’s relationship with nature, and I hope to become more appreciative of my surroundings through the Quilting Water Project."
RUTGERS-NEW BRUNSWICK, MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
Majors: Jazz Performance Studies, Information Technology and Informatics
Minors: Music Technology, Latino Caribbean Studies, Latin American Studies
"As a musician, fostering social change in my community has become something really important to me. I sought to participate in Quilting Water because I was fascinated with the idea of joining and learning from other artists for meaningful collaboration in an interdisciplinary approach."
The second cohort of Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize winners, selected again across three Rutgers University campuses, worked collaboratively on the Quilting Water Public Arts Project and were mentored by artist LaTasha Diggs during the Spring 2024 semester.
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND HONORS COLLEGE
Major: Neuroscience and Behavior
"Coming from an Egyptian background, I enjoy learning about other cultures through all art forms. I enjoy partaking in creative mediums such as painting, writing, and even ceramics!"
RUTGERS-CAMDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Major: Digital Marketing
Minor: Computer Science
"Outside academia, I love working out, reading a good book, and writing - more than anything! Whether it's creative writing, poetry, or a short story, I'm probably constantly writing. In the future, I hope to do what I love and make an impact while doing so."
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Major: English
Minor: Urban Education and Creative Writing (Poetry)
"I hope to devote my life's work to literature, not only as an art form, but also a form of resistance: a
way to challenge and bypass traditional structures of publication, and to resist historical and narrative revisionism."
RUTGERS-NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Majors: English and Data Sciences
"My interests lie in writing poetry, short stories, and comedy. I have been active in archiving and continuing Black Art, specifically West African Oral Storytelling and The Blues tradition. I am also involved in the Jazz and Hip-Hop music scene in Jersey and Central Louisiana."
RUTGERS-CAMDEN and HONORS COLLEGE
Major: Biology (Pre-Med)
"I really enjoy finding new landscapes to photograph. The Quilting Water Scholarship provides
a great chance to work with other Rutgers students in an artistically advanced manner, and
I'm excited to embark on the opportunity."
RUTGERS-NEW BRUNSWICK
Major: Public Health and Health Administration
"My passion lies in breaking down disparities against people of color in healthcare. I have a strong belief in the power of empowering marginalized communities and am dedicated to creating a more equitable future through my education and advocacy work."
Submerged is a poetry, sound, and photography collection by the 2024 Quilting Water student artist cohort. Guided by their individual relationships with water, the student-artists across the Rutgers University campuses have written a series of connecting poems in various styles. In addition to their original written works, this collection also contains voiceovers with original backing tracks composed by Papa Mbahwe, as well as photographs of water by Ryan Rivera (both members of the student artist cohort).
The six winners of the inaugural Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize were selected from three Rutgers University campuses in April 2022 and received group mentoring by nationally-renowned poet and artist Krista Franklin, who served as a consultant to Quilting Water.
RUTGERS-CAMDEN SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Major: English, Minor: Film Studies
"I like how art is a reflection of everyday life and can make a point or send a message. For the Quilting Water project, I have the opportunity to creatively depict the importance of water in communities of color."
RUTGERS-CAMDEN SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Major: Graphic Design
"Art has always been used to voice opinions, make change, and document history. Its our way of paving the way for progress while recording it in history. Art is a part of the collective consciousness and we all contribute to it."
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
"Who we are is a mix of how the world sees us and how we view ourselves. Art represents how our surroundings shape us and, in turn, is how we shape our surroundings."
RUTGERS-CAMDEN SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Majors: English, Gender Studies, and French
"Ecology, race, and art are united by the one thing that has been perpetuated by the human race almost since the time of creation--injustice. As an aspiring journalist, I strongly believe that documentation itself is an act of revolution. Therefore, art is an extremely
important way to cry out against such injustices by marking that they happened; they should not be swept under the rug.
RUTGERS-NEWARK SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND HONORS LIVING AND LEARNING COMMUNITY
Major: Behavioral and Neural Sciences, Minor: Creative Writing
"Ecology and race are the backdrop of every canvas. How they influence the air piece depends on the water of integrity, awareness, honor, and open-mindedness."
RUTGERS-NEW BRUNSWICK, MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
"I am interested about the natural world as well as all cultures, races, or communities. I love to see how the blend of these elements can create unique pieces of art."
Access photos of the handcrafted zine produced by the inaugural cohort of the Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize below. This unique publication stitches together the creative work from students across different Rutgers University campuses and even different parts of the world. Just as this initiative brought together minds from multiple disciplines, the concept of this final project draws from the art of quilt making to create something that pieces together unique stories into one creative, illustrative zine.
The Quilting Water Public Arts Project has gathered interviews about water - examining the intersections between art, race, and ecology - from South Africa, Senegal, Cape Verde, Japan, Puerto Rico, Belgium, the Philippines, the Atayal people of Taiwan, as well as right here in New Jersey. The content of these water stories have been stored and made available to local Black artists who have worked on crafting quilts in dialogue with this global archive.
Sign up for a Quilting Water interview here.
Or participate in Quilting Water as an interviewer! (details below)
We held a special celebration of Quilting Water on Friday, November 17 at Rutgers-Camden. Quilting Water is a global public arts project which stitches together the human connection with water through quilt-making and oral histories. We shared in this communal journey of witnessing the ties between our ecological realities, cultural and spiritual rituals, and the literary forms hidden within our everyday conversations.
The event featured celebrated lead artist for Quilting Water Renata Merrill and acclaimed writer and art quilter Jacqueline Johnson, and a special performance by the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women and non-binary singers, led by led by musical director Abena Koomson-Davis, who joined together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices.
With generous support from the ISGRJ, the Black German Heritage and Research Association (BGHRA) in collaboration with Africana Studies at Rutgers University in Camden hosted its 6th international conference, "Art as Resistance: Transcultural Expressions" from February 23-25, 2023. Building on the success of last year’s speaker series and conference, “All Black Lives Matter: Black Germany and Beyond,” this year’s 3-day, virtual symposium reflected the increasingly expanding vision of the BGHRA and sought to illuminate Black diasporic histories, artistry, and resistance in Europe and other neglected spaces, not just Germany.
Watch the powerful panel from the conference on the Quilting Water Project featuring Cherita Harrell, Jacob Camacho, and moderated by Rosemarie Peña, BGHRA President.
Patrick Rosal, codirector of ISGRJ at Rutgers–Camden, reads his poetry and discusses his Directors' Signature Research Project, Quilting Water, as a public arts initiative.
