Explore Fiber is a collaborative website showcasing and exploring fiber as a fine art material.
Mary Vaneecke is a fiber artist in Tucson, Arizona and has just launched a community fiber art project and future exhibition called TheMourningProject.com; an effort to shine light on the high rate of infant mortality in the U.S.
For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn. This short story, attributed to Ernest Hemingway, was the first thing that came to mind when I read the headline American babies are 76 percent more likely to die in their first year than babies in other rich countries. The United States’ infant mortality rate is the highest in the developed world. That statistic shocked me. It’s a form of American exceptionalism we Americans don’t like to think about. As the Washington Postput it, Our Infant Mortality is a National Embarrassment.
I thought about the parents of those little ones, whose crushing loss–losing a child before their first birthday–is immeasurable. The cost of 23,000 infant deaths on our country is unimaginable.
The loss cuts deeper because infant mortality is a problem we understand pretty clearly. It is not Democrat or Republican, Red State or Blue state. It’s not about who is President. The causes of infant mortality and solutions to it are well known. It is a problem other countries have solved. And it is something we have ignored.
(Gansey Booties, designed & knit by Kathie Popadin; shakeyourbooties on Ravelry; www.
handknitlibrarian.net/syb) As a visual artist, I believe in the power of art to change hearts, minds, behavior, and the world. Think about the famous AIDS Quilt, a community art project commemorating the loss of more than 80,000 lives. By ‘drawing’ a picture of a problem, we can see and feel the enormity of it. Our country, our leaders, and lawmakers need to see exactly what infant mortality looks like in America.
My vision for TheMourningProject.com is that each of the infants lost in a given year will be remembered with a unique, handmade, heartfelt little elegy. I am asking the fiber art community to come together to make 23,000+ pairs of baby booties. This is the number of American infants who die every year.
Whether sewn, knitted, felted, woven, or crocheted, I am asking for donations of handmade baby shoes in the colors of mourning: black, white, and gray. Gathered together, these small elegies will paint a picture too big to ignore. Time is of the essence–my plan is to collect 23,000 baby booties from Labor Day, 2018, until Mothers Day, May 12, 2019. Once these booties are collected, I will create a travelling art installation designed to advocate for policy changes that can save lives. Our work will be both a visual reminder of a national tragedy, and what we can do about it.
I can’t do this alone. Are you with me?
Click here to find out all the ways you can get involved. Go to Mary’s webpage for many other links regarding FAQs, patterns, talking points, support for grieving parents, and much more.
Sunday, November 25th. Hello fellow bootie makers. Overnight snow in Chicago–first blizzard of the season. I finished my 101st pair this evening. I was hoping the snow would start during the day so I could watch it as I sewed, but all we we got was a little rain. The rain turned to snow about an hour ago and they are predicted 6-12 inches! I absolutely love doing handwork in front of a picture window during a snowstorm. I started cuffing some of the booties with a little faux fur for the winter and I like how they are turning out. A couple weeks ago, I used a pearl gray to over dye a bunch of fabrics I have leftover from the quilts and sundresses I used to make the girls when they were little. I got to some of these fabrics this weekend. It makes the bootie sewing go sweeter, remembering what fabric went with one little outfit for which daughter. I am so very blessed to have had Abigail and Kaylee and to see them grow into the women they have become.
I was thinking–where is everyone located? I know that we have Mourning Project supporters making booties in Michigan, Arizona and Illinois, and I think it would be fun to see if each of the fifty states could represent by May. I know Kaylee’s knitting teacher, Suzanne Hoots, is in Texas and has promised her support. So shout out and let me know!
I am a retired NICU RN, and want to share this project with my friends who sew, quilt, crochet and knit. I would like to show them the photos etc. of the Heather Bailey design Bity Booties, but am unable to download and print it. Can you help me? Do you still need booties for your project?
Thanks and Blessings to you all.
Sorry it’s taken me awhile to respond to your comment! Part of the reason was flu!!! Anyway, just pass this website address on to your friends: TheMourningProject.com – I’m sure she is still collecting for her exhibit.
Crocheting my first pair of booties for the cause in Holmes, New York.
Wonderful collaborative awareness project. Am finishing nearly 20 booties in green valley Arizona. Am very curious how you are going to display all these hand crafted booties. I had a brainstorm that hung on fishing line and close line concept walk thru part if the exhibit. Feel the impact sort of experience. Am hoping that the reneick museum in Washington DC will want this as art works. And close to the sources for change. Are you returning to green valley to collect from the fiber guild the finished booties. Let me know please. Tele 231 649 8714 665 Fremont circle green valley Arizona. Am heading back to Michigan May 1. I have been a walking billboard telling lots of folks about your project!! Pace yourself. Opa tt Tina tank.
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