In 2019, California fiber artist Jennifer Kim Sohn undertook sewing one stitch for each of the world’s then-25 million refugees. When her machine broke after three days, she put out a call for stitchers.
Over 2,300 people from 37 countries responded, resulting in “25 Million Stitches,” an exhibition of banners depicting camps, portraits and more.
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Among the contributors were Helen Lambron and Nina Edelman, longtime volunteers at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg. Edelman traveled to Arizona in 2022 to see the exhibition. “Nina sent us a note saying, ‘You have to think about this,’” says Melissa Wraalstad, the museum’s executive director. In March – two years later – the exhibition arrived at the museum.
Over 400 muslin banners hang from the ceiling of the museum’s restored barn. Some say words like “Love” and “Hope.” Others depict people traveling through bucolic scenery, and others weave poems and written stories about refugees’ journeys.
Many of the works are personal, says senior curator Emily Schlemowitz. For example, Lambron stitched her Greek immigrant grandmother’s heirloom handkerchief. Such touches are meant to humanize the crisis of refugees, who now number nearly 40 million.
Wraalstad and Schlemowitz are working with state organizations that assist local refugees, and they hope the exhibit not only sparks conversations but draws refugees themselves. “It’s powerful,” Wraalstad says, “and this exhibit helps remind people that refugees are people.”
“25 Million Stitches” ends July 28 at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts.
