Little Elegies, first installation of The Mourning Project

The Mourning Project is a huge community fiber art project to collect 20,000 handmade baby booties, one for each American infant who dies before her first birthday every year.  The US has the worst infant mortality rate in the developed world.  This project seeks to educate the makers and viewers about the issue, and start a discussion on how we can address this as a country.

The YWCA of Southern Arizona hosted the first installation of The Mourning Project, Little Elegies, April 2019 in Tucson.  By this time makers contribute over 3,000 pairs of handmade baby shoes.  These are some images of the first exhibition.  Future installations will vary by venue as more makers donate booties.

A rare view of the full installation with clouds (3,000 pairs of booties).

 

View of the first installation of The Mourning Project, at dusk.

 

This shot shows the bootie count as of Thursday evening. At takedown, it was 3,223.

 

detail of the the altar cloth, which is a collage of vintage hand-worked linens, over-dyed and stitched boro style.

 

first installation of The Mourning Project, detail

 

Several makers view the installation.

 

View of installation from the altar.

 

Attendees with signage from the installation. Signs educate viewers on the varied causes of infant mortality, and the solutions shown to address each cause.

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