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Textile Maps

In reaction to the gentrification that occured on the East Side of Providence in the 1950s-80s, I am creating embroidered samplers fashioned with traditional motifs that depict images of historical homes and the words of their past owners. The language relflects the sadness and struggle of those people who were ultimately forced out of their homes due to the conflicting cultural course of historic preservation within the city. The project also calls into question the priorities of public architectural protection, a process that focuses on the remembrance of selective histories and often neglects to protect the class and cultural diversity of neighborhoods. Through drawings, I create maps that follow the journey of people groups rearranged within a city due to gentrification and suggest the value of the memory and recognition of multiple cultures histories remembered, as oppose to just the dominant voice.

artist

Carolyn Janssen

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