Created by InterArtist Jen Haefeli in honor of Women's Suffrage in the likeness of Clara Lemlich Shavelson.

JEN HAEFELI
Burn: The Cinders Of Greed & Power, 2024
Fiberart materials include cardboard, remnant fabrics, paper, wood, hemp rope, satin ribbon, Mother
of Pearl buttons, mini clothes pins, acrylic paint, ink, watercolor paint, online sourced vintage
newsprint, thread, and fire.
36" x 18" x 8"

The historic New York garment district is rife with stories of greed and power and in cases like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, horror and tragedy.

Clara Lemlich Shavelson holds a clipping of upcycled fabric in her hand, symbolizing the unfinished work of the laborers who were taken abruptly mid-workday. The laundry line of burned shirts dangling from the building, crossing her body as they fall, explains what came of so many in this tragedy. Clara was a formidable woman who led a movement that resulted in measurable change in the United States fashion workforce.

Many say this became the quintessential pivotal moment for the Suffrage movement. When Clara led a 20,000-woman uprise, their strike against the sadistic practice of indentured staff member servitude echoed throughout the streets. Women galvanized from the President’s front lawn to cell blocks of Occoquan. Suffragists marched to the ballot box sharing their message via a conduit of homes and businesses across this country. On behalf of ghosts still sitting in front of sewing machines in factories, the 19th Amendment eventually came to fruition. Clara and others like her who began as a young, skilled, and hard-working Ukrainian girl supporting her family, found that with the “fire in her Mouth”, one woman’s voice could begin a rebel yell.