The Mourning Project Arrives in Arch City by Mary Vaneecke

It was an incredible weekend in St. Louis as we created the first installation of TheMourningProject.com in the Midwest at The Gallery at the Kranzberg.  All 20,000 little elegies--pairs of handmade baby booties--are on display in the gallery to remember each child lost before their first birthday in the US.  We have the worst infant mortality rate in the developed world, and makers seek to honor loss families, raise awareness of the issue, and begin a conversation on how we can improve little lives.

The state of Missouri had the worst infant mortality rate in the country 10 years ago.   With the leadership of the Missouri Foundation for Health, and agencies like Generate Health and March of Dimes aiming for systemic change, the state now ranks 45th.  Progress is possible!

The installation will remain at The Gallery through August 8, when we will de-install to move the booties to the STRIDES event in St. Charles to benefit Infant Loss Resources on Saturday, August 10.    In July, we'll hold a panel discussion on how the community can support loss families at the Studio at the Kranzberg from 10-11 am on July 24.  

Installation view from the street

The Mourning Project, detail, altar

detail, the Missouri flag with the state's
portion of 20,000 baby booties

 

Viewers at the opening reception

The Makers table

Carla and Gary Duncan with me at the installation

Carla Duncan helps installs the 'Mother Booties,' made in
memory of the 700+ American mothers who die from childbirth-related conditions.

the Mourning Project, detail

The butterflies await their release

Mary Vaneecke with Kendra Copanas of Generate Health and
Erin Coppenbarger of March of Dimes 

Installation view with the 'Thrive' Wall, which highlights the
work of some of the agencies combatting infant mortality across the state

A pair of booties made in honor of the thousands of infants
born into homelessness each year.  

The Mourning Project, detail

Art Cloth Network members created over 100 pairs to contribute to the project.  My thanks to all those who helped make this possible. 💜

For more information about the issue and the Project, go to www.MaryVaneecke.com

#20000BabyBooties     #UnitedAgainstInfantMortality    #BlanketChange

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/