25 Million Stitches Exhibit - Barbara Schneider

 I recently went to see the exhibit - 25 Million Stitches at the Wisconsin Quilt and Fiber Art Museum in Cedarburg, WI. It was quite an experience.  This blurb gives the background information about the development of the exhibit.

This project provides a beautifully resonant expression of art/ activism that raises awareness of the immense number of peoples forcibly displaced from their homelands by violence and natural disasters. By choosing basic stitching as the means to tally the number of people displaced, those who are new to art-activism were drawn to it and became part of our collective mending, of repair. Every participant from 5 to 91 years of age, from the asylum seeker to the artist who had never thought of their art as an expression of social activism, became an essential part of project.

The full installation of these panels gives the viewer a way of processing the enormity of 25 million – the approximate number of refugees estimated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees when this project started.  But the panels also have an important narrative quality, both individually and in their collective presentation.  Many panels convey images, symbols, and messages of solidarity, hope and community. The culmination of this community effort is a grand collection of diverse tapestries comprised of each participant’s unique expression of solidarity with the world’s refugees. We believe that the installation of this collection will raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and help people comprehend the enormity of it in a way that words alone cannot. 

The exhibit is shown in a very large old barn with tall ceilings and rafters. It allowed the panels to be hung in long rows of banners. They filled the space in rows with just enough space to walk between. They moved a bit with the movement of people and air. 

It was wonderful to be surrounded by this massive work. And deeply moving to see how different banners interpreted the theme. I have attached a number of photos of both the space and particular pieces. There is a short video with the curator, the developer and a viewer that gives a sense of being in the space as well as background on the Quilt Museum website. There is also a website for the 25 Million Stitches project. The exhibit is up till July 28.

https://www.25millionstitches.com/  

https://www.wiquiltmuseum.com/