The Durham Homicide and Victims of Violent Death Memorial Quilt began in 1994 after a 4-year-old girl was shot and killed. Shaquanna Atwater would have turned 32 this year. For more than three decades, the quilt has served as a somber visual reminder of lives lost to gun violence in the city.
The quilt’s creator, Sidney Brodie, has stitched the name of every gun violence victim in Durham since Shaquanna’s death. He says the project has become increasingly difficult to carry on, both physically and emotionally.
“When I first got started stitching, I would not allow anybody to be in the room while I was stitching or painting the art,” Brodie said. “I just wanted to be by myself.”…