The Storytelling of Quilts - Maggie Hagman

In the last newsletter, I described my motivation to write my Masters thesis about the storytelling of quilts. This installment is an historical account about how quilting was used to communicate in times of war.

During the Second World War battle for Singapore in 1942, thousands of allied soldiers were killed or captured by the Japanese. Many Allied citizens were caught in the colony. Initially about 2,500, of whom 400 were women and children, were interned in Changi prison by the Japanese.

While in jail, the women were banned from communicating with the men. Writing materials were scarce and written communication was held in suspicion. The Red Cross leader in the camp suggested that the women should embroider patchwork quilts, one each for the British, Australian, and Japanese Red Cross. Each interested woman was given a 6 " square of fabric and asked to put her name and something about herself into the square. By substituting conventional pen and ink with needle,thread, and bits of clothing the women skillfully recorded their specific view of internment and eventually circumvented the Japanese restrictions by sending the quilts to the hospital in the military camp.

In signing each square they created a permanent historical record of internees and provided the men with a list of names of women who were alive in Changi prison, transmitting a covert and yet powerful message of comfort and solidarity, hope and encouragement. The Changi quilts symbolize the story of civilian interment. The civilian internees were a patchwork of individuals, weak and strong, optimistic and realistic, skilled and unskilled, old and young.

The women created a ‘quilt’ of armor against the fear and uncertainty within a civilian internment camp.