((PKG))  MONUMENT QUILT HEALING   
((Banner:  The Healing Quilt)) 
((Reporter:  Faiza Elmasry)) 
((Camera:  Mike Burke))  
((Adapted by:  Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map:  Washington, D.C.)) 
((NATS)) 
((Hannah Brancato, Co-founder, FORCE)) 
The monument quilt is inspired by the Names Project [AIDS 
Memorial] as a way of occupying public space to create a 
community art project for people to grieve together.  It is 
motivated by the fact that there is no public monument to 
survivors of sexual and to intimate partner violence, and that in 
order to heal from trauma, we actually need to have public 
monuments to convene with our communities, especially those 
who haven't witnessed 
((Photo Courtesy:  Theresa Keil)) 
or experienced the same trauma.   
WeĠre a survivor led organization and we are putting the needs of 
survivors first 
((Photo Courtesy:  Nate Larson)) 
in creating a public platform for our healing. 
((Photo Courtesy:  Nate Gregorio)) 
This display is the final 50th display that we've done around the 
country, in the U.S. and in Mexico, in 33 different cities, over the 
past six years of organizing.   
((NATS))  
((Greg Grey Cloud, Artist and Activist)) 
Four years ago, I was asked to share a story of sexual assault 
from a male perspective.  And at that time, no male had shared 
their story until I finally, you know, got enough nerve to share my 
story since from when I was 9 years old, when I was sexually 
assaulted.  But these women here at the Monument Quilt Force, 
they created such a safe space for me to share my story that I just 
felt that I needed to be actively involved.  
((NATS))  
((Kalima Young, Project Co-ordinator)) 
Trauma, especially gender based violence and sexual trauma, 
lives sort of in the soil.  It lives in the body and when you put the 
quilt out and it's on display, it often acts like an acupuncture 
needle and it opens up the spaces of trauma.  And often people, 
who don't even identify as survivors, once they experience the 
quilt, realize that they have sexual violence in their history.  
((NATS))  
((Naomi Chandel Kumar, Monument Quilt Visitor)) 
It's really beautiful to see survivors standing up and not being 
afraid and being able to find healing and community.  That's really 
important, I think, for artists and for survivors to heal together and 
being able to create something with that energy as opposed to it 
eating you up is a much better use, I think, of our creative talents 
and of our energy and healing practice.  
((NATS))  
((Kalima Young, Project Organizer)) 
The biggest thing that everybody wants, who does this kind of 
work, is we want to tell survivors that we believe you, we see you 
and you're not alone and you're not to blame. 
((NATS))