EXHIBITION ON VIEW MARCH 26 - APRIL 27
A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE PERLMAN TEACHING MUSEUM EXPLORES GARMENT WORKERS’ RIGHTS AND LIVES
The Price of Our Clothes is a material meditation on garment factory disasters with artist Rachel Breen and poet Alison Morse. Responding to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, March 25th, 1911, and the collapse of garment factories at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, April 24th, 2013, the exhibition presents evocative mixed-media artwork that is sewn, painted, stitched on and/or punctured with a sewing machine, powerful sound pieces, poems, and performances. The Price of Our Clothes encourages contemplation about our historic and present day relationship with the people who make the clothes we wear.
The Perlman Teaching Museum, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Free and open to the public.
Special Events
“The Price of Our Clothes” Performance by Rachel Breen, April 2, 10am–1pm & 2-5pm
Weitz Commons (outside Perlman Teaching Museum entrance) and in the Gould Library
Rachel will sew the common clothing of women garment workers in Bangladesh, the shalwar kameez. While women garment workers in Bangladesh sew American styles, they wear the shalwar kameez. The performance is meant as an act of solidarity.
“The Price of Our Clothes” Exhibit Opening: April 12, 6-8pm
Perlman Teaching Museum’s Braucher Gallery
“The Price of Our Clothes” Poetry Readings: April 12, 7 - 8pm
Perlman Teaching Museum’s Braucher Gallery
Alison Morse will lead a poetry reading with multiple readers that highlights the poems she wrote for “The Price of Our Clothes.” Alison’s poems animate the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City (1911) and the collapse of garment factories inside Rana Plaza in Bangladesh (2013); bring to light our present day connections with garment workers in Bangladesh and invite reflection about our role in the garment industry supply chain. Readers include Rachel Breen, Paula Cisewski, Patricia Cumbie, Carol Dines, Carla Hagen, David Harris, Deborah Keenan, Seth Levin, Chris Martin, Alison Morse, Marcia Peck, Julia Klatt Singer, Leroy Sorenson, Peter Truran, and Saymoukda Vongsay. Poets Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Bridget Murphy, and Kate Kysar will read poems of their own.
The Re-Fashion Show: April 26, 12 - 1pm
Perlman Teaching Museum’s Braucher Gallery
Students from poet Chris Martin’s Introduction to Creative Writing class at Carleton College will present their poetic responses to the exhibit and chapbook “The Price of Our Clothes.”