Miami Dade Youth organized a Juneteenth Rally at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami’s Bayfront Park on Friday June 19, 2020 to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. Hundreds gathered for powerful speeches and performances lead by ACLU lawyers, NAACP activists and grade school children voicing the power of black youth. Commemorating African American freedom emphasized by education, achievement and cultural expression; youth organizers from public schools around Miami as well as University of Miami students held court in our city’s major public park. A civic ceremony to reclaim open space with jubilant performances, is a momentary relief from the dark weeks following the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
A new Cunt Quilt depicting a Black Lives Matter fist was created in solidarity with the event organizers, the arpillera served as a backdrop to the celebration. Cunt Quilt (Power) ii was made as an artist’s print of Cunt Quilt (Power) which was created in 2017 at the Bronx Museum Stitch n Bitch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party members exonerated for the bombing of a Bronx police station. Fabricated with 50 pairs of donated, black and grey underwear on a used Queen sized bedsheet, the arpillera was created in my studio days before the event, while my toddler slept. Running short on supply due to several boxes of skivvies stranded in NYC, I was saved by my neighbor (a strong black woman who happens to be a census worker and activist), as she donated a few of her postpartum pairs.
Lambastic 