MUSIC

fallible, and we have to find ways to connect with one another if we want to change hearts and minds. It’s the only way we’re going to get anywhere, I think.

I need my work to reflect that part of me and hopefully start a conversation—or inspire someone to learn, say, about Fred Hampton and the Black Panthers. It’s crazy. The 60s were, like, a second ago, and a lot of people still don’t know that history. The Black Panther Party were just trying to educate people and feed babies and protect one another. And the U.S. government thought that was way too scary.

I learned to think bigger, and now I’m like, “What if I got something in the MCA? Or . . . the Whitney?” It took a long time to even let myself imagine that.

Before “Stitch Gawd,” people would always be like, “Oh, you’re the girl with the jacket.” But even then, I wasn’t trying to be the girl with the jacket. I made one piece, and it kind of spiraled out of control. My first, second, and third [commissioned] pieces were on magazine covers. Celebrities were wearing this stu . And that was really early on!

I ended up in all these spaces and working with all these people. And I’m a sponge, right? I always want to know everything. I research, I read, I pick up on things. I was learning a ton through the artistic communities I was part of, like about the city and by extension America. And I was kind of like, “OK, the jackets are cool. But if this is really my calling, it needs to be less about celebrity worship and more about things that I care about.”

Chicago represents everything that’s great and terrible about this country. It’s got that midwestern, blue-collar, hard work ethic. We have really passionate, activated people and beautiful architecture, great public parks . . . public arts! We also have horrible police brutality and some of the worst segregation in the country. Because of that duality, Chicago produces all this amazing cultural stuff. And I think that America has that in spades, but there’s nothing quite like Chicago. We make truly incredible music and art.

I have discovered I have this influence through this art form. People are interested in talking to me. “Well, if I have this attention, then I need to use it for something bigger than me.” My first large cross-stitch was a ninefoot portrait of [Illinois Black Panther Party] Chairman Fred Hampton. This was way before that movie came out, and people weren’t as aware of Fred Hampton because of the nature of his work and the state’s involvement in his death.

So I thought, if you see this giant blue velvet portrait, you’re going to want to know, “Who is this, and why is this piece so large?” And for people who know that history, I want them to ask, “What continues to happen to men like him?” I don’t feel like it’s my place to shock people into recognition or come down heavy-handed. We’re human, we’re

That’s why I was harassing our former mayor with some art for a while in 2021. I just had big beef with her—I thought she was so terrible for this city. I found this really beautiful silk handkerchief from the [1933] Chicago World’s Fair. It’s really cute and pink. And then I stitched on top of it, “Fuck you Lori.” And I had it turned into postcards and wheatpastings. I sold 300 postcards that were pre-addressed to City Hall so people could express their own grievances to Lori. I wanted it to be like that scene in Harry Potter where all the letters come through the mail slot in the door and just flood the room. I wanted them to be like magic letters on a mission, except it’s a bunch of pink postcards saying “fuck you.”

I really needed Lori Lightfoot to know how I fucking felt—but also how some of her constituents felt. People get so hung up on presidential elections, but local politics are where you can e ect the most change. And I thought maybe this was a way to engage some people who aren’t so typically engaged. A few hundred of those went to City Hall, and then we pasted them in her neighborhood. I love being engaged in that way and showing people there are avenues for them too.

I really enjoy speaking truth to power. If I’m doing all this fun stu for brands—if I’m working with Nike and Gatorade and all this stu —I have to find ways to make it celebratory, but I also have to be doing something that’s for the good of the people. Always for the good of the people. Toni Cade Bambara is an abolitionist author, and she said, “The role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” I love that. That’s what we gotta do.

@JuggaloReporter