This Is NOT a Bill is a series of quilt tops made out of hospital gowns. I sourced the gowns through my battle with cancer and some have been donated by other patients and medical professionals. The resulting patchwork of fragmented gowns with different patterns and colors is a response to the struggles of navigating the American commercial healthcare system that leaves patients feeling overwhelmed and isolated. The back of the quilt top is exposed and likened to the back of the human body when in a hospital gown. (Above view from the A.I.R. Gallery Biennial, 2023)
The title of the series This Is NOT a Bill has been adopted from health insurance paperwork. The series examines an arguable paradox posed by the American healthcare system in that the paperwork functions as an acknowledgment of the amount that hospitals charge insurance companies while simultaneously revealing the co-pay amount to be paid. Additionally, this examination of and meditation on private health insurance conceptually alludes to Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte’s work Ceci n’est pas une pipe. The individual quilt top works are titled after medical exams that I have undergone e.g. Ultrasound Exam of Neck or health insurance terms such as Insurance Deductible.
(front detail)
(back detail)
Transthoracic Echocardiogram (back detail), 54″ x 41 1/2″, donated hospital gowns and sewing thread, 2022
My medium palette is characterized by the conceptual use of objects that come in direct contact the human body e.g. hospital gowns. These objects become costumes that categorize their carrier as vulnerable and dependent on the kindness of strangers (doctors, medical professionals, law makers, etc.). I use performance, public interventions, installations, and quilting in order to advocate for affordable and comprehensive healthcare as fundamental conditions for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.
*For hospital gown donations contact the artist at [email protected]