The Quilted Journey

About the Project

How someone does one thing is how they do everything. Or so I believe, when I spend time with Ms. Jereann. I follow her movements with a camera–an extension of my eye. Her intentional, loving stitches running along carefully chosen fabrics remind me of her life’s journey to who she is today. Quilting is about putting things together that would not otherwise meet together on the same plane, inextricably joined by love and time. How did I, a 20-something-year-old from South Korea, come to know Ms. Jereann, a wise elder from Bainbridge, Georgia?

By some stroke of luck, I found myself this summer following her around. That is, I was a Film Intern to a Durham-based nonprofit assigned to–among other things–aid the production of a documentary feature film on Ms. Jereann King Johnson. She is a well-respected and beloved community organizer, educator, and quilter based in Warrenton, NC. From her upbringing in the Jim Crow Era to finding herself in the birthplace of the Environmental Justice Movement in the United States, she has meandered through the various pieces of her life that seem random and offbeat in her perspective. In retrospect, the thematic threads that connect them become clear, across the varied textures of Bainbridge, Durham, Warrenton, and Ghana.

Ms. Jereann supported my human presence and inspired my artistic practice, in that order. I learn life lessons from her even from observing her walk–mindful, even-paced, and graceful. With her I can find common ground, our experiences seemingly disparate yet harmonious at the same time. Reckoning the gap between our lived experiences, we have stitched, danced, and shed tears together. I’m ever-grateful of her trust in me, which grew so much that she let me sew sleeves on her quilts for an art exhibit at Cassilhaus and borrow original prints of her personal and family archive to digitize. I was honored to follow her footprints this summer, entrusted with her stories–many that the camera never saw, but will live forever in my heart.

The nonprofit organization that I supported this summer is called the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South (RCWMS), cultivated since 1977 under the directorship of Jeanette Stokes. RCWMS maintains a wide network of women in Durham and far beyond who consider their work as ministry. Beyond aiding in the production of a documentary, I also documented the important work that they do in Durham’s community. I gathered for them more than 10 hours of footage, adding to the media representation of both women and BIPOC, as well as the intersection of the two, contributing to narrative shifts in our society’s art and culture. Volunteering over 180 hours, I provided diverse forms of support to RCWMS’s programming, including: graphic design, audiovisual asset management, art exhibition preparation, grantwriting, and multiple-hat-wearing for Kindred Spirits: A Convergence of African American Quilters.

I am ever grateful to Ms. Jereann, the Benenson Family, and the team at RCWMS, for encouraging me to develop confidence in my creative work.