Diaper Pattern
c.1973–75

Installation with text on cloth diapers

Diaper Pattern was created as the American war in Vietnam was winding down. Thirty well-worn cloth diapers are stitched together to compose a patchwork quilt. Written on each are comments—some real, some imaginary—elicited in public dialogue during the war. These phrases by United States observers and combatants expose the rampant racism and xenophobia underpinning the war. Conversely, by using a benign material typically associated with innocent infancy (but also excrement) as the canvas for this aggressive nationalistic rhetoric, the artist also underscores the politicized nature of childcare and other domestic labor typically performed by women.