My Neck, My Back, My Arthritis Quilt, 2022

Front and Back of My Neck, My Back, My Arthritis Quilt, 2022. Calico, Bandana Binding, Printed Felt and Embroidery Thread, 77cm x 88cm

I drew some self portraits last year when I was experiencing this neck pain which included me turned to stone, me stuck in a jar, my skull with flesh fallen off and me with a neck brace and a shit on my head. Pretty much sums it up perfectly. Apparently I have some kind of degenerative disease in C5/C6 in my neck, probably connected to my auto-immune arthritis in my spine.

I liked the look of this pin wheel style quilt block, and chose a colour palette from the bandanas I had already been experimenting with. Then the iconic Khia lyrics “My Neck, My Back, lick my pussy and my crack” came to mind but I havent had sex in a long time so I made my own edit to be “When I say My neck, my back, im talking about arthritis, not my pussy or my crack.”

I wanted the back of the quilt and binding to contrast the colours in the front so I chose to pull from the blue bandana. The back is patch-worked calico I tie-dyed earlier in the year in shades of blue and teal. I like how it came together but I have learnt my lesson with making the binding so thin, it is just so much more difficult to fit all the layers inside and also doesnt show off the bandana designs that much.