How to Break Protocol, 2022-2024
In my latest body of work, How to Break Protocol, 2024, I have physically embedded the 2002 edition of Protocol: The Complete Handbook of Diplomatic, Official & Social Usage by Richard M. Sand, Pauline Innis, and Mary Jane McCaffree into a series of handmade quilts. Pages and excerpts taken directly out of the book provide raw materials which I have incorporated into fabric using classic and modern quilting techniques. These purposefully torn, cut and copied pieces from the original text are fused together within three layers with batting and hand stitching. The quilts highlight the outdated language embedded in the text, drawing attention to somewhat problematic gender normative roles and social etiquette that were lauded within the official life of a Foreign Service Officer at the local, state, national and international levels, particularly in regards to a “trailing spouse,” always presumed to be a woman.
The protocol quilts represent me letting go of the rules of protocol and stand as a symbol of rejecting the expectations of others. When I tear pages from this book to use in my work, I am setting their regimented contents free, and by allowing the pages to be part of something else, I am intentionally subverting tradition. In the quilting process, I continue to rebel against protocol, as my improvisational methods and materials push against the tradition of quiltmaking itself. This is not unlike my own family finding our new traditions outside the realm of the foreign service, though the pages are still embedded within our lives. Taking a traditionally female-gendered craft and bending the rules to include a very non-traditional material offers an ideal juxtaposition within which to situate my artistic vision and communicate this message to my viewers.
