Care Packages
Care Packages is a community based art project where participants constructed prayer mats for the 17 Uighur detainees of Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The project began after reading multiple accounts of some of the more ridiculous charges the U.S. government applied to these detainees. After reading specific accounts of the typical day of a detainee, I decided to organize an activist patriotic project that would assist those not often associated as a traditional part of our country. There have been many knit-ins, quilting bees, and other craft related drives for soldiers, veterans, and soldiers' families, but none that addressed the un-named, un-identified and often "guilty until proven innocent" constituents of our country. While the detainees are not U.S. citizens, they have become default members of our collective being. Wanting to create a positive memory for these 17 detainees, as well as making a political statement, participants learned about the function of the prayer mat, typical iconic designs, and were strongly encouraged to send an electronic letter to the general in charge of the detainees urging proper humanitarian action (via Human Rights Watch). When the mats were completed, they were sent to a U.S. based Uighur cultural center that then delivered them to the detainees in spring 2009.