I served as collaborating artist with Studio Gang on the exhibition and created site-specific textile installations

On view November 20, 2021 - March 31, 2022
1520 West Division Street in Chicago
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Works created:

The Stitchers
Diana Aguilar and Hale Ekinci, 2021
Hand-sewn and machine-couched curtain, 16ft x 10ft
The Stitchers uses thread and couched yarn to depict three of the garment workers and owners of Blue Tin. Aiming to convey both their individuality and shared strength, the curtain is lifted to form a gateway around which the three women stand tall, ushering viewers into the next room.

Igniting a Movement
Hale Ekinci, 2021
Fabric collage on curtain, 8 panels at 4ft x 10ft each
Igniting a Movement is a modular quilt celebrating the women of Blue Tin and how the bottom-up change they are making is growing in strength and influence as it joins with the work of others. Using fabrics selected by Blue Tin stitchers that resonate with their cultural backgrounds, artist Hale Ekinci creates a dynamic landscape resembling a fire. Rising out of the fire are sparks that transform into silhouettes of diverse people, their profiles drawn from the scale figures used in Studio Gang’s architectural model of 63rd House to represent the building’s many different users.

Both The Stitchers and Igniting a Movement are planned to be installed in 63rd House as part of a system of movable curtains that will define its community spaces, rather than solid walls. The hemming and finishing of all the panels was done by Blue Tin.

A collaboration with Blue Tin Production, A Different Future in the Making: Building Garment Worker Power & A Broader Abolitionist Movement with Blue Tin Production and 63rd House is the inaugural exhibition in Studio Gang's new Wicker Park gallery space.

Read more and see images at Studio Gang’s website