Red Jeans Redemption: Live Art Response
Pamela Alderman with SEE Freedom
The Red Jeans Redemption exhibit gives voice to the hidden stories of sexual abuse, rape, and sex trafficking. This community-based work involves multiple layers of participation. First, several individuals donated funds or bought red jeans and left them on my front porch. Next, a couple of sexual abuse therapists agreed to make the project available to their clients.
One counselor wrote her own rape story on a pair of red jeans and hung them on her office wall. As clients noticed the jeans, they asked if they could participate by writing their stories too. To keep up with the increasing interest, we developed a rotation system: When the counselors returned the finished jeans, I dropped off or mailed additional jeans. Several women from Sacred Beginnings, a nonprofit that rescues victims of sexual exploitation, also recorded their sacred stories.
In February, the Red Jeans Redemption exhibit will be expanded to include Pamela’s live painting performance with an opportunity for audience engagement. For this segment, audience members will write ways they can help end exploitation on scraps of red denim. Then, Pamela, along with Anna Donahue and Susan Anderson, will incorporate the audience’s responses into a large canvas painting (detail from example painting shown). This live collaborative experience will remind visitors of the healing redemption found when shame and secrets are released and met with a compassionate response.
Join Us for Story Collective On February 25, 2020
Story Collective: A Night for Freedom curates an artistic gathering to support the work to create a future free from human trafficking for thousands in our community.
Story Collective will gather community members to showcase a new art exhibition by Pamela Alderman, the Red Jeans Redemption Project, an art experience which gives voice to survivors of exploitation. The red jeans display anonymous stories from survivors. This night we will learn together and participate in a live art response to the problem of exploitation.
Date:
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Time:
6:15 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Location:
The Lit
61 Sheldon Avenue Southeast
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Tickets:
$55
The installation, situated on the ground of the Village Arts Factory in Canton, Michigan, consists of twenty-one 6 x 6 inch white posts placed in lines like the white crosses of Arlington National Cemetery. The posts, however, are cut into various lengths representing those who served and those whose lives were “cut short.”
