Quilt exhibit highlights African Nova Scotian heritage

A well-made quilt can tell a story, but can they contain secret codes? A special exhibit in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County explores the possibility that quilts helped slaves find their way along the Underground Railroad to Canada.

The exhibit is called Secret Codes, a collection of more than a dozen African Nova Scotian narrative and picture quilts at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton.

Most of the designs come from David Woods, an artist and writer from Dartmouth.

They're based on his journey to rural black communities across the province.

“He started sketching diagrams and then he started asking us to, if we could, put these diagrams in a quilt,” says quilt maker Myla Borden.

Borden is one of the founding members of the Vale Quilters of New Glasgow.

Borden and her small group have taken White's vision, given them texture and fabric, and made them appeal to the eye and the soul.

“To me, they speak and they speak loud because of the colour,” says Borden. “It's about things that are important to black people and it can be transferable. A lot of these things are important to all communities. So even within a quilter, a quilter's world, they don't see this as black art, they see it as quilting.”

There's a disputed theory that during the early 19th century, escaped American slaves would use codes from quilts to help reach the Underground Railroad in Canada.

“To the best of my knowledge, as research was done, there wasn't or hasn't been much evidence really to support that, but asking the question, for historians and people studying different cultures, is an important place to start at least,” says museum curator of education Andrew Phillips.

The modern quilts are beautiful pieces of art and a unique way to explore African Nova Scotian culture.

“That's how quilts affect people. It doesn't really matter what they look like, it's the feel and the warmth and the memories,” says Borden.

The quilt exhibit will be on display at the Museum of Industry until the end of the month. This Saturday, members of the Vale Quilt Makers association will be on-hand to talk about their works and their quilt making techniques.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh