The Red Dress: Southern Vermont Arts Center Selected for United States Debut
14 YEARS. 51 COUNTRIES. 375 CONTRIBUTORS. MILLIONS OF STITCHES. 1 RED DRESS.
Traveling the world for fourteen years, passing through untold pairs of hands. Leaving each new place different than it was upon arrival, needled over and over with embroidery by skilled artists and first-timers. It’s The Red Dress, an interactive art project conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod to provide “an artistic platform for women around the world, many of whom are vulnerable and live in poverty, to tell their personal stories through embroidery.” Now finished after almost a decade and a half, it is making its United States debut at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont.
“Constructed out of 85 pieces of burgundy silk dupion, the garment has been worked on by 366 women/girls, 7 men/boys and 2 non-binary artists from 51 countries. All 140 commissioned embroiderers were paid for their work, and receive a portion of all ongoing exhibition fees, merchandise, and the opportunity to sell their work through the Red Dress Etsy shop.”
Where hasn’t this dress been? “Embroiderers include female refugees from Palestine, Syria and Ukraine, women seeking asylum in the UK from Iran, Iraq, China, Nigeria and Namibia, survivors of war in Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Rwanda, and DR Congo; impoverished women in South Africa, Mexico, and Egypt; individuals in Kenya, Japan, Turkey, Jamaica, Sweden, Peru, Czech Republic, Dubai, Afghanistan, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Tobago, Vietnam, Estonia, USA, Russia, Pakistan, Wales, Colombia and England, students from Montenegro, Brazil, Malta, Singapore, Eritrea, Norway, Poland, Finland, Ireland, Romania and Hong Kong as well as upmarket embroidery studios in India and Saudi Arabia.”
And now . . . The Calico Dress. As The Red Dress makes its appearance throughout the world, the artist has invited each exhibiting venue to invent its own dress—the Calico Dress—for a similar though more local gathering of embroiderers. Calico Dress No. 1 is part of a current exhibition in Wales. Calico Dress No. 2 has been commissioned by the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Alison Crites, Manager of Exhibitions and Interpretive Engagement at SVAC, says that each venue’s Calico Dress will be unique in design; SVAC’s is sleeveless with a more streamlined skirt than that of The Red Dress. Thus far, approximately 20 people have worked on Calico Dress No. 2; the plan is to have the embroidery completed by the end of May.
After its summer in Manchester, Vermont, The Red Dress begins a multi-year tour. Next up: The Frick Pittsburgh followed by Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA.
The Red Dress and its Calico sister will be on exhibition at SVAC from July 1 through September 24. For more information, please click here. For those interested in participating in the preparation of Calico Dress No. 2, contact Alison Crites by email at acrites@svac.org. For more information about The Red Dress Project, please click here.
Photo, top: Lekazia Turner, Jamaica. Photo by Mark Pickthall. All photos by permission and courtesy of Southern Vermont Arts Center. Quoted text from The Red Dress website.
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