“not what I taught you” by aynex mercado, art quilter

Author: Aynex Mercado

I am a modern quilt artist. Art quilts are comparable to paintings in fabric to be displayed on a wall and not what you normally think of as traditional quilts designed as bed coverings. It is something I have to do. Fabric is the best medium I have found to express my voice. I create work that starts a conversation and brings us a little closer. I have my own political opinions but my work is not meant to push my beliefs. I try not to show one solution as better than another. I do try to show how both sides may have merit and there is no need to antagonize or diminish each other to achieve our goals. My work is about acceptance and the need to be better to one another. There is so much beauty around us and most of the time we walk around without noticing it. Our attention is trapped in our phones and we do not see what is around us. -Aynex Mercado - Frederick, Maryland, USA.

An idea started rolling around in my head around 2017 when some people were protesting Civil War statues. Should we be honoring people that fought against our country to keep slaves? Are we trying to change history by getting rid of them? I started thinking, if the people represented in those statues were alive today, what would they think of us? Here we are judging them while in their times our lives would probably seem immoral in a different way. Are morals relative to the time we live in? I thought it was an interesting idea and I wanted to explore it further. At the time I was working on another series on architectural quilts  but the idea kept nagging me.

Finally in 2024 I was able to start working on a series exploring the statues idea. After all those years, the idea I wanted to express was more about the hypocrisy of a society that holds symbols as representations of those things that we are supposed to value but the reality is very different.

If the statues and monuments that we hold dear became alive today, how would they react to the state of our country today?

That became the main premise for my new series.

I decided to title it “Not What I Taught You”

because we did not learn the right lessons.

The first piece in the series is titled Drowning Liberty. The Statue of Liberty represents freedom, democracy, and hope. The quilt features the Statue of Liberty sinking beneath chaotic waves, symbolizing how American values are being lost in today’s turbulent society. It was featured in the 2025 Fantastic Fibers exhibition. Through this work, I hope to get people thinking about how we will lose our freedoms if we don’t fight injustice.

After the Statue of Liberty quilt, I decided to work on Blind No More. At the time I was working on this quilt, there were many legal cases going thru the courts and it seemed like all the powerful people were able to leave unscathed either by some technicality, by appealing and delaying or by getting favorable judges that would rule in their favor. I imagined Lady Justice running away leaving behind her blindfold disgusted by the unfairness of our justice system.

Another aspect of our society that bothers me is how the Christian religion teaches us to love our neighbor and be kind to those in need. The most fervent people against immigrants are people that call themselves Christians. These “Christians” love to show everyone how god-fearing and moral they are. With the quilt Go Home I wanted to show how disappointed Jesus would be if he were alive and saw how his followers treat immigrants. I also wanted to imply that if Mary and Joseph were going thru the same situation as these immigrants, those that profess to love Jesus would be the first to mistreat them. I looked for statues of Jesus and found an interesting story about a 65’ tall statue in Arkansas and wrote about it in my journal.

Art can be a way to give a voice to social issues and challenge people to think more deeply about the world. Through  the Not What I Taught You series, I’m asking tough questions:

Are we living up to the values we claim to believe in?

What happens when symbols of freedom and fairness no longer hold meaning?

I want my quilts to challenge people to face uncomfortable truths and think about how we can work together to build a fairer society. I truly believe that art can start important conversations and inspire change. Through my work, I want viewers to think about the difference between what America promises and what it actually delivers. I believe art can reveal the truth and motivate us to do better.

I have many other ideas I want to add to my series but I don’t want it to be a series criticizing our society. I want it to bring hope and offer ideas on how things can change. How can we learn the right lessons our statues teach us? At this moment I am not feeling very hopeful. We will see where my art takes me.

learn more about Aynex:

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