Companion Species (Speech Bubble) was made with the help of community members during sewing circles in Northwest Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, and Honolulu, Hawaii in the fall of 2018 and winter 2019. Made from reclaimed wool blankets in shades of red, Companion Species is shaped like a megaphone. Words such as neighbor and hate are mixed with familial words such as mother, grandmother, and brother. The words draw attention to Indigenous ways of acknowledging relatedness, but also come from the 1971 Marvin Gaye song, “What’s Going On.” In both cases, terms like “mother” go beyond biological classifications to extend to all humans, and in Iroquois teaching, to animals and the environment as well.

The sewing circle events Watt organized to produce this work provided an opportunity for community members to slow down and connect with one another while artmaking and using the familiar material of cloth. Notice how the words are rendered in unique stitches reflecting the hands of the many contributors.