In partnership with Wake Forest University and the artist collaboration Diaz Lewis, SECCA is presenting workshops from the 34,000 Pillows Project on Thursday, September 20 through Saturday, September 22 in downtown Winston-Salem.
The 34,000 Pillows Project is one of the artist-driven programs we have as part of the Cuban exhibition. This project is a national response to immigrant detainment by artists Alejandro Figueredo, featured in the exhibition Cubans: Post Truth, Pleasure and Pain, and Cara Megan Lewis (together known as Díaz Lewis). The artists in partnership with community participants, WFU students and faculty, Sawtooth artists, the Hispanic League, and SECCA will create pillows from donated clothing from undocumented immigrants and their allies to form a collective patchwork of individual experiences. Each handcrafted object will be sold by the artists for a donation of $159 — the amount that the government spends daily for detaining an immigrant. The pillows will be made into an installation to create awareness of the immigrant crisis and specifically the 34,000 beds that the US Government mandates for detainees. All proceeds will go to local organizations that support immigrants. Clothing and material are being collected by several community groups. We will also have a booth at Fiesta from which we can steer people to the open workshop that day.
The Pillow Project in Winston-Salem is a joint partnership among the artist collaboration Díaz Lewis, SECCA and Wake Forest University and is supported by Wake Forest Department of Spanish and Italian, WFU Interdisciplinary Performance and the Liberal Arts Center, Sawtooth School for Visual Art, Forsyth County Central Library, The Hispanic League and Christ's Beloved Community.
Workshops are free and open to the public. RSVP for a workshop HERE
You are welcome to drop in for half an hour or work with the artists for the entirety of the workshop.