Art as Memorial: Artist and Activist Talks

This three-part program invites participants to explore memorialization through the lens of two significant global crises: the mistreatment of garment workers and the marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community during the AIDS crisis. The afternoon includes talks and a hands-on collage workshop.

The program begins with artist Rachel Breen discussing her installation Shroud, on view in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor, and HRM’s Laura Vookles, Chair of the Curatorial Department, drawing connections to Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled (L.A.), on view in It Takes 2: Unexpected Pairings. Both works reflect on lives lost due to injustice and intolerance using unconventional materials.

Next, labor activists Adrienne Andi Sosin and Joel Sosinsky of Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition and Robin Berson of the Workers’ Memorial Quilts discuss their inspiration and how they have worked to memorialize garment workers lost in tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the Rana Plaza collapse.

The program is followed by a hands-on collage workshop where participants can create memorial pieces inspired by the quilts, honoring those they wish to remember.

Simultaneous ASL interpretation will be available for the talks in the Joyce Greene Education Center. Visitors may attend the entire program or select specific parts.

Schedule

• 1–2pm — Gallery talks with Rachel Breen and Laura Vookles in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor and It Takes 2: Unexpected Pairings.
• 2–3pm — Illustrated talks by Adrienne Andi Sosin, Joel Sosinsky, and Robin Berson in the Greene Education Center.

Support provided by Art Bridges.