In recent years, the UK has seen a massive assault on trans people’s rights and freedoms. In the midst of that, trans people in the UK have been continually finding ways to express themselves and make themselves known to the world around them.
Emblematic of these efforts of visibility and self-expression, the Trans Unity Quilt was unveiled on Saturday at the London Trans+ Pride march. The quilt is constructed from three-hundred patches, each featuring handmade art and words of encouragement and resistance by the UK’s trans community.
The quilt was made by the Trans Unity Quilt Project, a campaign initiated by the Good Law Project, in an effort to show off the lives and culture of the trans community in the UK. In a press release announcing the launch of the quilt, Mars Callick, co-creative lead of the project, said: “Textile art has given power to resistance movements across history. We’re joining this collective creative tradition, stitching together our experiences as a beautiful, diverse and resilient community, regardless of transphobia or hate. We have always existed, and we always will.”
The project to construct the quilt began in January, after having been conceived the previous summer. Over the following months, the Trans Unity Quilt Project sent blank panels out to community members across the UK and also held workshops where people could create the panels in person.
Peoples’ creative processes varied widely, with some panels being the culmination of individual work over months, and others being group projects working with time challenges to get as much as they could in five minutes. “No two patches are the same, but sewn together they form a united message: that even under the weight of oppression we stand together in love, courage, and truth,” said CN Lester, the other co-creative lead, in the press release.
The patches, a square meter in size, feature art, poetry, memorials, tributes, and quotes. While there is a wide array of emotions featured, perhaps the most consistent presences are those of joy and celebration of being trans.
The project’s main goal is to commemorate this time of adversity for future generations of trans people, and to show what we can do and make in the face of that. “It’s a piece of historical testimony to where we are and that for all of the attempts made to erase us, this physical document will continue to exist and cannot be destroyed,” said CN Lester in an interview with Assigned Media.
The other stated goal of the project is to rally and show off the sheer breadth of the community in the UK. “You go into a supermarket or corner shop and you’ve got all these just foul, transphobic headlines,” said CN, “we wanted to get people out of a sense of being isolated.”
Following the march, the quilt was moved to the Bishopsgate Archives in London, the largest archive of LGBTQ+ history in the UK, where it could be safely stored in between future appearances at pride and other events in the UK (the flag will be viewable in person at the archives with advance notice).
Ultimately, the quilt will be able to serve as a representation of the current moment of trans culture for generations to come. “It is quite literally a patchwork quilt of every member of our community and the fact that we are everywhere,” said CN, “we are all so incredibly different from each other, and that’s such a gorgeous thing. But we’re all united by this common fight for our lives and our futures.”
Author’s note: Below is a selection of a few of my favorite panels. The Trans Unity Quilt can be viewed in full with messages left by their creators here!
Valorie Van-Dieman (they/she) is an Associate Editor at Assigned Media. @valorievandieman.bsky.social
