Elegy for Elijah

“Elegy for Elijah” remembers twenty-three-year-old Elijah McClain. Walking home from a convenience store in August 2019, where he had gone to buy an ice tea for his brother who was feeling bad, an encounter with Aurora, Colorado Police resulted in his murder. Friends invariably recalled him as a “gentle spirit.” Self-taught on the violin, he would play for the kittens in the pet store next to the massage business where he worked, believing music calmed them in their loneliness. "Elegy for Elijah" is from a series of machine quilted stitched fabric artworks that strive to offer a visual respite of solace while tackling the troubling themes of our time. The quilt medium has an inherent association with restfulness. The messages conveyed are intended to be hopeful and edifying, despite the dire events addressed.