Ulla von Brandenburg

Fabrics are the architecture closest to the body. Ulla von Brandenburg connects fabrics “with revolutionary questions in a broader sense.” Her work Flying Geese (2017) is based on African-American quilts from the Underground Railroad, an early nineteenth century network that utilized secret routes to guide escaping slaves. Quilts hung up on the route contained coded visual information, serving as a road map on the path to freedom. The quilts combined known quilting patterns and sewing techniques with traditional West African symbols and encoding traditions. For example, the eponymous pattern in Flying Geese recalls wild geese in motion – this was interpreted as an indication of the best season and direction to attempt escape. 8 The creation of the patchwork simultaneously served as a collective transmission of techniques, forms and knowledge. The tradition of quilting can be found in almost all cultures, enabling women to express themselves with regard to the social body. Quilts are filled with life and memory, but also with certain roles and attitudes, and with social events. The way von Brandenburg adapts and develops these themes and visual idioms, draws parallels to her own family history, as she uses old items of clothing and fabric remnants collected by herself and her relatives. Her work takes us onto a mobile stage where fabrics are revitalized with personal and collective histories. From that moment on, they take on an eventful life of their own, forming new relationships with us.