Three Sails, Two Lives, and a River That Remembers
Walk along Penn's Landing in Delaware this summer and you might catch sight of something unexpected rising from the deck of a docked schooner: a triptych of hand-sewn sails, glowing in sunset hues of yellow, pink, purple and burgundy. They are the centrepiece of Sail Through This to That, a major textile commission by conceptual artist Indira Allegra that has been five years in the making.
Sail Through This to That by Indira Allegra. Photo: Brandon C. Ballard
The sails took eight months to construct, overseen by Fabric Workshop and Museum coordinator Olivia Dwyer alongside sailmaker Dayle Ward, whose practice specialises in 18th and 19th century techniques once used to rig working vessels like the one Ona Judge fled aboard in 1796. Judge, a seamstress enslaved by Martha Washington, escaped to freedom by ship. Centuries later, Dominique Rem'mie Fells, a young Black trans woman and aspiring fashion designer, was killed in Philadelphia in 2020. Allegra's sails stitch these two stories together through cloth itself, using chintz, the patterned floral textile Judge would likely have handled while sewing Washington's gowns, as a structural motif.
A hoisted sail from Sail Through This to That by Indira Allegra. Photo: Olivia Dwyer
Look closely and you'll find a patchwork of botanical imagery: ginkgo, prized for its resilience, and mugwort, long associated with healing. These plants grow along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, the waterways that thread through both women's histories. Each sail is unified by a recurring image of a sewing needle, a deceptively simple device that becomes, in Allegra's hands, a symbol of labour, craft, survival and self-expression all at once.
Sail making in progress at the Fabric Workshop and Museum.
What makes this project compelling for textile lovers is how seriously it takes the medium's history. Allegra didn't simply commission "sails that look nice." They sought out a sailmaking tradition rooted in the same era as Judge's escape, then layered onto it a contemporary palette drawn from Fells's own vibrant aesthetic, as documented in photographs of her wearing bold yellows and signature burgundy hair. The result functions simultaneously as historical artefact, a memorial and wearable-adjacent design statement, even though it will never be worn at all.
Preparing to hoist the sails of Sail Through This to That by Indira Allegra. Photo: Brandon C. Ballard
The procession that launched the work in May has passed, and several accompanying programmes have already concluded. But the sails remain on view through July 30, marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with a different kind of commemoration.
If you catch this story soon enough and reside in the area, you may be able to join Sail Through This to That – Rest on the River on Thursday, June 18th, from 8:00 to 9:30pm EDT at Spruce Street Harbor Park. Participants will board the Schooner North Wind alongside Indira Allegra for a rest retreat inspired by Tricia Hersey's Nap Ministry: guided meditation and dream journaling as the boat sails into the setting sun, with vibraphonist Hudson River weaving crystalline tones throughout. Notebooks and pens provided. It's the final instalment in this triptych of programmes, and a rare chance to see the sails as living parts of a vessel in motion, carrying their stitched histories out toward the water.
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Further information:
Sail Through This to That is part of Art Philly Arts Festival, on until 2 July 2026
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Read more about textiles and the role of water in Selvedge Issue 131, Flow.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Detail of Sail Through This to That by Indira Allegra. Photo: Brandon C. Ballard
All further images as credited in captions.