A stitch in time
Rozsika Parker, Hawaiian Flag Quilts: A Legacy of Patriotism / Feminist art historian Rozsika Parker writes of “the subversive stitch” in her study of the art of embroidery, suggesting that the needle may be as potent a tool as the pen in articulating a political perspective. That “subversive stitch” infuses a new exhibition of Hawaiian Flag Quilts now at Mission Houses Museum.
The subtitle of the exhibition, “A Legacy of Patriotism,” hints at the multi-faceted changing shape of nationhood–and a contemporary understanding of it–in the Hawaiian Islands. Quilts, flags and coats-of-arms were all introduced artifacts of Western culture, taken up as the transition from alii to monarch took place. Kamehameha I commissioned the creation of the first Hawaiian flag in 1816, shortly before Western sewing practices were introduced by missionary women to native Hawaiians. The emblem and the practice converged in the creation of quilts, bedcovers that came to replace those made of kapa, the indigenous bark cloth.
The quilts share a common format, with a four-square border of flags (the combination of the British Union Jack and tri-color horizontal stripes) surrounding a central section with some version of the monarchial coat-of-arms, which was first adopted in 1845 and later given more elaborate form by King Kalakaua.
These quilts form an important category within the larger context of the Hawaiian quilt tradition, which by the 1870s had developed into a distinctive tradition, with patterns linked to family lineage and an emphasis on individual expertise rather than the western model of the quilting bee.
In an exhibition where a first impression is one of sameness, it is important to look for differences–in manner of stitching, for example: some are sewn by hand, others use sewing by machine, an early version of which is included among the related artifacts on display.
There are also variations in the central motif, the coat-of-arms, which is created as an appliquéd area, a technique we have come to associate with Hawaiian quilting in general; some feature decorative stitching here. And look carefully at the orientation of the flag border itself–while most display the stylized flag with the Union Jack in the upper left corner, others invert or reverse it. The title “Kuu Hae Aloha” (My Beloved Flag) is associated with several of the quilts, with text sometimes actually incorporated in the sewn construction. History may be written in many ways–this exhibition reminds us that needle and thread is one of them.
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