Free Your Mind is a public textile art project aiming to collect, exhibit, embed and release personal narratives about Microaggressions in a multi-sensory installation facilitated by artist Theda Sandiford.
Microaggressions are subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — everyday
interactions or behaviors that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative
messages or assumptions toward historically marginalized groups. The weight of these daily interactions underpins very real consequences... stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility.
This project exposes these interactions to provide a release for the viewer. Participants are invited to write a story about a microaggression they have experienced onto a ribbon and tie this ribbon onto a net to release this story from their personal narrative. This is a story ribbon.
The installation evolves with each new story ribbon, keeping a public record of disempowering interactions, that can be exposed and talked about. Participants have the feeling of being seen and acknowledged while interacting with the work. In the installation space, as visitors move throughout the space, motion sensors trigger monotone computer voice recordings of story ribbons.
In 2021 Free Your Mind toured, collecting story ribbons in Bayonne NJ, Jersey City NJ, Sunsets @ The Standard, Miami Art Week. Free Your Mind is installed at Art Crawl Harlem's house on Governors Island, NYC from May through August 2022.
Free Your Mind will make stops in Newark and Brooklyn next year.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DJnPSUHid5xcthrbRXDLcP50tLUa0pf8l_cgSaXL5qw/edit
- Subject Matter: Microagressions
- Created: September 2021
- Collections: Microaggressions
Other Work From Theda Sandiford
