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Life Stitches

Projects· Quilts of the East/Midlands

20 Jan

Denise Bates – Birmingham

Life Stitches

Using the Gov.uk statistics : Daily deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate by date of death

‘Life Stitches’ hits people hard when they realise what they are looking at.

Denise challenged herself to create an abstract textile piece using the Office of National Statistics data from Day 1 of the First Lockdown to one year later March 23rd 2021. Each stitch in the piece represents a passing of a human being.

– DENISE’S WORDS –

In the early days of January 2021, it was evident that the UK death toll due to Covid-19 would pass 100,000. It is a figure that is hard to visualise.

It was not front page news, the idea that there were the equivalent of 3 or more plane loads of people dying daily was too much for main stream media and perhaps a resignation that this was really happening and we had become immune to the sheer tragedy behind the numbers.

I wondered what 100k stitches would look like but I had no concept of how long they would physically take to commit to fabric.

After a few false starts, the stitches grew to represent the statistics.

The first 9 stitches in the centre, in NHS blue represent the lives of those first recorded to have died from Covid-19 between 30th January 2020 and 6th March 2020. The 46 following red stitches are up to 13th March 2020. From this point each colour represents 1 day of deaths.

The pearls represent the end of each week (a Friday) as the statistics are updated. There are markers for the start of each month.

The colours mirror the rainbows that became the national symbol of appreciation of all our key workers.

The blocks of colour which the initial circular pattern turn into on the left are allude to the tiers different parts of the country were subjected to after the numbers started to increase again ( mid September onwards).

Christmas Day is towards the top left in red and silver. New Years Eve and New Years Day are in blue and silver top right.

The shortest day of stitches of the first wave is 8 (red) 29th August 2020 and then just 4 in light blue on 19th and 22nd May 2021. The  longest is 1,483 (dark blue) on the 19th Jan 2021. The numbers from February onwards form an outer frame. From the first death recorded on 30th January 2020 to the end of June 2021 there are 154,149 stitches (as per the ONS stats of 27/7/21).

The front of the piece is regular, ordered and is a stitched representation of the statistics, but I love how the back of this piece is so much more than that.

Each coloured thread is tied to the next so that there is a continuous link of one day to the next. It symbolises those people who died being connected not just by Covid-19 or by the day they died but by the NHS who cared for them – some will have been treated in the same hospital by the same staff and in the same bed. Connected by the loss and grief felt by their families.

The back of this piece is more colourful, it is brighter and more vibrant, it is the fullness of those people’s lives, they were grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, colleagues, each had a story so much more than a number in a set of statistics.

The back of Life Stitches is the truer story of the beautiful souls the UK has lost.

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The brand/ublic narrative that the Government has The brand/ublic narrative that the Government has been pushing SINCE BEFORE Covid is simply - CRISIS. 
Whilst the NHS can be portrayed as an ever-failing beast that we are "coping" with; whilst the government machine dictates to the mainstream media an image of an institution unable to cope; then this government almost absolves itself of responsibility and gets away with #socialmurder 
If the government WANTED TO - it could easily invest in rebuilding the workforce If the Govt. WANTED TO - it could easily rebuild the infrastructure of the system to bring back more beds, more resources. 
The simple fact is this Government DOES NOT WANT TO. It is busy following the same plan of dismantling, fragmenting and breaking the health service in order to replace it with the corporate profit model that is the USA Model. It's been happening for years and the narrative of CRISIS has helped to distract the public, distract the staff, and justify their negligence and pretence at "trying to cope with the crisis". 
Clever and Deceitful aided and abetted by the likes of McKinsey, Price Waterhouse Cooper, United Health of America, Centene and other American global corporates. This is not an external crisis of post-pandemic circumstances - the govt has used #covid to push through legislation and policies that are helping them speed up the idealogical process.
This Government are guilty of destroying our once world-leading public health service - just as they are doing with all our public infrastructre.
This government DOES NOT WANT to support people, develop healthy lives, promote critical thinking. CLosing down a healthy society is their aim.
#corporate #theft #privatisation #usa #integrated #socialcare #socialbreakdown #health
The brand/ublic narrative that the Government has The brand/ublic narrative that the Government has been pushing SINCE BEFORE Covid is simply - CRISIS. 
Whilst the NHS can be portrayed as an ever-failing beast that we are "coping" with; whilst the government machine dictates to the mainstream media an image of an institution unable to cope; then this government almost absolves itself of responsibility and gets away with #socialmurder 
If the government WANTED TO - it could easily invest in rebuilding the workforce If the Govt. WANTED TO - it could easily rebuild the infrastructure of the system to bring back more beds, more resources. 
The simple fact is this Government DOES NOT WANT TO. It is busy following the same plan of dismantling, fragmenting and breaking the health service in order to replace it with the corporate profit model that is the USA Model. It's been happening for years and the narrative of CRISIS has helped to distract the public, distract the staff, and justify their negligence and pretence at "trying to cope with the crisis". Clever and Deceitful aided and abetted by the likes of McKinsey, Price Waterhouse Cooper, United Health of America, Centene and other American global corporates.
#corporate #theft #privatisation #usa #integrated #socialcare #socialbreakdown #health
Hanging quilts in mid air adding even more drama t Hanging quilts in mid air adding even more drama to the exhibition at Leeds @leftbankleeds 
#quiltsofinstagram #Quilt #threadsofresistance #activism
Our most recent addition from Cornwall proudly tak Our most recent addition from Cornwall proudly takes its place at @leftbankleeds 
Workshops for those interested in quilt making and craftivism are pinging this month. 
#quiltsofinstagram #community #artivism #creativepolitics #creativelife #resistance #politics #politicalart 
#textiles #textileart
Dear Mr Health Secretary A spontaneous quilting m Dear Mr Health Secretary
A spontaneous quilting moment. If you could meet the current health sec what question would you put to him? 
We're going to record questions on lovely canvas and quilt material. We must not forget these difficult times. 
#health #healthservices #healthsecretary #ukpolitics #govt #politicalembroidery #mistakes #art #community #peoplepower #socialjustice #society
Dear Mr Health Secretary A spontaneous quilting m Dear Mr Health Secretary
A spontaneous quilting moment. If you could meet the current health sec what question would you put to him? 
We're going to record questions on lovely canvas and quilt material. We must not forget these difficult times. 
#health #healthservices #healthsecretary #ukpolitics #govt #politicalembroidery #mistakes #art #community #peoplepower #socialjustice #society
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