25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee
(March 1–July 28, 2024)
25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee is an artistic statement from the international community about human displacement, immigration, and solidarity. It is an aggregation of 25 million hand-sewn stitches, each representing a single displaced human being as counted in the UN’s High Commissioner on Refugees 2019 report. The stitches are bound to 407 muslin banners, each 14’ long. Building this physical representation of this statistic required participation from 2,300 stitches from 37 countries, all 50 U.S. states.
25 Million Stitches was initiated and conceived in May 2019 by Guest Curator Jennifer Kim Sohn, a multimedia artist and activist, in Sacramento, CA, to create a community of art activists to visually document the enormity of the number of refugees in the world and to sustain the concern for the refugees in the minds of global citizens.
Although it took over 9 months of slow community building, the project gained global traction by the 10th month when 23 million additional hand-sewn stitches were sent in from all over the U.S. and the world, surpassing the goal of collecting 25 million stitches. The stitches were counted, panel by panel, through the methods of sample counting four 1 x 1-inch squares and multiplying and averaging the number of stitches.
For this project, Sohn relied on a dedicated team of volunteers. Many of the time-consuming tasks: responding and sending out panels, collating the stitcher data, photographing and recording the panels, counting the stitches, sharing the progress through social media, combining panels into 9–14ft flags for installation, and re-adjusting the height of the flags for various venues, are all managed by volunteers.
How does making 25 million stitches help refugees? The team believes this project is a way for them to engage with this global crisis instead of ignoring it. And even though no single stitch can fully represent an individual, the act of stitching and the resulting work will help bring attention to the scale of the crisis and build communities of concerned activists.
Thank you
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Wisconsin Arts Board - National Endowment for the Arts, Travel Wisconsin, Plum Media, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Kohler Foundation Inc., Horicon Bank, Port Washington State Bank, Associated Bank, Hearst Marketing Resources, Nina and Rich Edelman, Ellie De Lia, and Judy and Jack Hearst.
Mary M. Sisum, Time Moves Along, 2023-24; twelve cross-stitched month pieces and batik fabric strips.
“At the WMQFA rummage sale in 2023 I found these wonderful cross-stitched pieces. I couldn’t leave them, and this wall quilt was born. Thank you to SD, the mystery stitcher, for her lovely work. The batiks reflect the weather of each month. The quilting also compliments the month.”
Rummage Sale Treasures
(April 26 - June 9, 2024)
Micro-Gallery Exhibition
You never know what you’ll find at a rummage sale, or what it might become later. Using second-hand materials acquired from the 2023 WMQFA Rummage Sale, these Wisconsin artists created truly one-of-a-kind treasures.
For the first time, WMQFA is putting these works on display to show what can be made out of old gems and creativity!
Please vote for your favorite piece! Voting will take place May 1st - June 9th. The winners will be announced during WMQFA’s 2024 Rummage Sale, June 13th - 15th.
Plan a Visit!
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