Episode 87: Sewing as Community (w/ Aram Han Sifuentes)

Seeing Color

Hi everyone. I hope you are doing well. I got a wonderful episode to share with you today as I speak with Aram Han Sifuentes, a fiber and social practice artist, writer, and educator who works to center immigrant and disenfranchised communities. Her work often revolves around skill sharing, specifically sewing techniques, to create multiethnic and intergenerational sewing circles, which become a place for empowerment, subversion, and protest. Aram got her BA in Art and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is currently an Associate Professor Adjunct. Aram’s energy is infectious and I found myself laughing a lot with her in our discussion as we chatted about growing up in rural California, protest banners, voting rights, and political literacy among immigrant communities. Aram also just opened with a solo show at moCa Cleveland, so go check it out if you are in the area, something I would like to be able to see before it closes in the summer. Otherwise, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy this.

Links Mentioned:

• Aram’s Website
• Aram’s Instagram
• Jin Soo Kim
• The Intimacies of Four Continents by Lisa Lowe
• The Ruptures of American Capital by Grace Kyungwon Hong
• Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks
• Cauleen Smith
• Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
• The Sentencing Project
• Ishita Dharap
• Minari

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