Inspired by the bojagis in the Asian Art Museum collection during her visit in 2021, Steph Rue created a quilt blanket made out of the hanji, or Korean mulberry paper, she made in her studio in Sacramento. Here, images of the artist’s mother and grandmothers as well as pages from the Bible and Buddhist texts are cut, stitched, or woven together, along with the phrase “My daughter, you deserve to be safe. —Mom” in Korean. For Rue, the work serves as a “letter” to her daughter, just as the one-hundred-year-old bojagis may have served the same purpose for the daughter of a textile studio owner.
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