Quilting holds deep cultural significance for many Indigenous peoples, intertwining practical necessity with rich storytelling and community traditions. For various Indigenous groups, the textile art has evolved to reflect their histories, identities, and connections to the land. Inspired by the ancient craft, artist Wally Dion creates colorful, translucent quilts that honor Indigenous lands.
In 2022, Dion was invited to participate in an exhibition at Wanuskewin Park, a heritage park in Canada. At the time, four large petroglyph boulders, dating back thousands of years, had recently been unearthed. Dion tells My Modern Met, “Although the exhibition was supposed to focus on this archeological find; they also wanted to talk about the reintroduction of the Bison into the land and how the bison through their hoofs had actually uncovered the ‘rib stones.’”
Dion began planning a series of translucent quilts that would be laid on top of the other to create an eight-pointed star, a symbol that holds immense cultural significance to Indigenous groups around the world.
“I wanted to make several transparent quilts and superimpose them, one in front another,” he explains. “A quilt for the microbiome, another for the bison, their manure and hooves, another for the summer fires that scorch the ground and a final quilt for the sweetgrass braid.”
The artist continues, “I was considering how all of these things worked together for thousands of years to create what is known as the ‘prairie ecosystem.’ […] I wanted to highlight the invisibility of systems when everything is working well, as it should be.”
Despite his ambitious plan, Dion only managed to make one quilt in time for the exhibition. The elaborate, shimmering green piece beautifully commemorates the lush sweetgrass braid used in Indigenous ceremonies.
“I considered the nature and tradition of quilting; impoverished craftspeople using tiny scraps of fabric,” recalls the artist. “I considered the act of offering fabric and adherence to tradition. I thought of a thousand tiny prayers and how that might look; invisible acts of respect and adherence spanning decades. My thoughts traveled across the land, imagining the trees and rocks collecting these prayers like a bush of cloth, or an etched boulder.”
Since then, Dion has expanded his collection, titled Grass Quilts, by adding several new pieces. Each quilt is designed to be displayed outdoors, where it interacts beautifully with sunlight and the surrounding natural elements.
“These works are inherently about multiple ‘aspects’ of a vast ecosystem coming together to make a single biome,” Dion explains. Each fragile quilt is intended to eventually disintegrate, “much the same way that prayer cloth would eventually bleach, fray, and erode in nature.”
Check out the artist’s beautiful Grass Quilts below and find more of his work on Dion’s website.
Artist Wally Dion creates colorful, translucent quilts that commemorate Indigenous lands.
Each quilt represents a piece of the natural ecosystem and is designed to be displayed outdoors.
The fragile, translucent pieces interact beautifully with sunlight and the surrounding natural elements.
Each piece features a central eight-pointed star, a symbol that holds immense cultural significance to Indigenous groups around the world.
