Monument Quilt Collection

Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

Founded in 2010 by Hannah Brancato and Rebecca Nagle, FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture is an art and activist collective dedicated to constructing a culture of consent, widely known for creating public art to disrupt rape culture. FORCE was an intersectional, LGBTQ focused, multicultural, pro-black and anti-white supremacist collective, who did their deepest organizing work in Baltimore and Mexico City, and planted seeds globally. They strived for their visual imagery, language, resources, and organizing strategies to have a local and global impact in their efforts to end sexual and intimate partner violence by changing social attitudes and connecting these shifts to policy change. FORCE is best known for blanketing the National Mall in June 2019 with the Monument Quilt, a 3-day display of over 3,000 stories by survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence from around the world, with a particular focus on the USA, Mexico, and Indigenous Nations within North America. From 2013 to 2019, and over 6 years, the Quilt was displayed 50 times in 33 cities across the US and in Mexico, including at the US-Mexico border and has partnered with over 100 organizations around the world. At the time of the display, a staff collective, guided by a Leadership Team, was assembled to shape the vision of the project, which included Charnell Covert, E Cadoux, Mora Fernández, Hannah Brancato, and Shanti Flagg and former staff collective members, include Saida Agostini, Rusty Marquis and Rebecca Nagle. Pieced together by volunteers over 7 years under the guidance of a staff collective and a dedicated volunteer leadership team, over 50,000 people encountered the display in person, and hundreds of thousands engaged online. From 2013-2019, the Monument Quilt was displayed 50 times in 33 different cities across the US and in Mexico. Partnered with over 100 organizations across the US and in Mexico, to organize 50 Quilt displays in 33 different cities. Cities include, in order from most recent: Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Madison, NJ; Houston, TX; Athens, OH; Fort Belvoir, VA; Towson, MD; Mexico City, Mexico; San Francisco, CA; El Paso, TX; Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; Santa Barbara, CA; Valley Center, CA; Tempe, AZ; Tulsa, OK; Fort Hood, TX; Annapolis, MD; Fort Meade, MD; Washington, DC; Nashville, TN; Jacksonville, FL; Oklahoma City, OK; Middleton, CT; Queens, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Durham, NC; Oshkosh, WI; Chicago, IL; White River, SD; Quapaw, OK; Des Moines, IA; Baton Rouge, LA; Birmingham, AL; Arden, NC. In 2021, FORCE ceased active programming. Today, FORCE’s efforts are focused on the archiving of the Monument Quilts, with full intention of finding a home for every quilt.

Scope & Content

This collection is made up of two series. Series I: Monument Quilts is organized in numerical order assigned by the donor. Series II: Digital Materials is kept in original order by donor.

Provenance Information

Accession MSS 2022-03.

This colection was transferred to Special Collections by Hanna Brancato in April 2022.

Access & Use

This collection is open for research. There are no restricted materials.

Permission is required for all reproduction requests. Copyright maintained by creator.

Subject Headings

• Covert Charnell
• Cadoux E
• Brancato Hannah
• Fernandez Mora
• Nagle Rebecca
• Marquis Robin
• Agostini Saida Agostini
• Flagg Shanti
• Intimate partner violence– United States
• MeToo movement
• Public art
• Quilts
• Rape culture– United States.
• Sexual assault
• Sexual violence

Series Description & Container List

Expand all | Collapse all

Series I: Monument Quilts

Series II: Digital Materials