The City of Detroit Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship, Cranbrook Art Museum, the TCF Center and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will present a large-scale art installation to the press at noon Tuesday, August 31 that features hundreds of colorful fabric pouches created by southeast Michigan residents to help them heal from the depth of loss felt during the pandemic.
The public art installation was designed to provide support and healing for residents who have experienced all kinds of loss – such as lost loved ones, lost homes, lost jobs and lost hope — during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is open to all regional residents who experienced physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, occupational and environmental loss. “Covid has taken a profound toll on our region and many Detroiters and Metro Detroiters share a common grief over the loss
of a loved one.” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “We hope this very personal memorial will help in the healing process and serve as an opportunity for people across our region to understand and support one another. I’m grateful to Rochelle Riley and our partners at TCF Center, Cranbrook and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy for helping to make the vision for this memorial a reality.”
Mark Wallace, president and CEO of the Conservancy, said it is fitting that the Riverwalk and Dequindre Cut played a role in this important project that means so much to so many.“We are proud of the important role the Riverwalk and the Dequindre Cut played during the pandemic,” he said. “People see our public spaces as a place of comfort and respite. The Healing Memorial project is yet another step we all take together to help us heal during this challenging time.” The Healing Memorial is located at the north end of the TCF center at the corner of Congress and Washington Boulevard on Level 3.
Working media are invited to view the installation for the first time at noon Tuesday, August 31. Representatives of the City of Detroit, Cranbrook Art Museum, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and TCF will make brief remarks. Parking is available on the roof deck and park near Elevator 1. Entrance to the roof deck is on Congress between 2nd and 3rd streets. Questions? 312-933-5855.
Detroit ACE will host a making station in Spirit Plaza from 1 to 3 p.m. following Tuesday’s unveiling. People can drop by, socially distanced, to make a pouch there. The project is a living installation, meaning residents anywhere in the region can continue to make pouches at their churches, in their homes or at their own making stations through July 2022.
The pouches can be dropped off at Valade Park, 2670 E. Atwater from noon to 4 on Sundays through September 30. After that, pouches should be mailed to:
The Healing Memorial
Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
600 Renaissance Center, Suite 1720
Detroit, MI 48243
c/o of Rachel Frierson
The Healing Memorial installation is created by world-renowned artist Sonya Clark and curated by Laura Mott, senior curator of Contemporary Art and Design, of Cranbrook Art Museum. Clark, who studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art, has enacted this project as “The Beaded Prayer Project” internationally over the past two decades. This version of the installation will be the first one dedicated to a specific city. “At the heart of this project is the power of people coming together to offer something seemingly small but ultimately powerful and wholly collective,” Clark said. “Each beaded prayer is the seed of a person’s intent and memory. Together we make a garden of our humanity, an ecosystem providing sustenance and succor.”
The Healing Memorial project kicked off June 19 and throughout the summer, the project hosted more than 30 Making Stations throughout the metro Detroit region. So far, community members have created more than 1,200 of the memorial pouches, colorful, hand-made personal dedications that include a note or intention and wrapped in fabric and adorned with a bead.
Together, these pouches comprise the dramatic installation that will be displayed at the TCF Center.
The success of the project led organizers to extend the project and allow for additional submissions. The next submission deadline for pouches is October 15, but submissions will be accepted through next summer. “Residents across our community experienced loss during the pandemic,” said Rochelle Riley, Director of arts and Culture for the City of Detroit. “This unique project allows all of us to express our own individual sense of loss in a beautiful, creative and uplifting way. Each one of the fabric pouches in the installation tell a unique and personal story.”
To learn how to make your own memorial pouch, visit www.detroitriverfront.org/thehealingmemorial to watch a video from artist Sonya Clark.
For information visit www.detroitartsandculture.com.
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