CLOTHES STORIES

Several thousand garments are hung in the railing around a building that was once a Goodwill collection center. They are gathered together and installed in such a way that they form a border around a central meeting area. The bright colors and moving fabric draws visitors into the central space. Here they are greeted and invited to browse through the garments and to choose one that speaks to them in some way, forms some connection to memory, or offers inspiration. Once they have chosen a garment, they bring it back to the center area and are then asked to write a short story that relates to the garment onto a tag. The stories take many forms - short anecdotal narratives, flash fictions, poems, letters to loved ones, lists of memories. With the writing complete, the tag is then pinned to the garment and the garment hung above the central meeting area. As the day passess the garments migrate from the outside space to the inner courtyard where they form a canopy above the visitors. The garments hang at a height where the writings can be read by those below. The entire scene is like a marketplace whose currency is story. At the end of the day the garments are all gathered. They are transported to a holding area where they are tagged with a number, photo documented, and their stories transcribed. This information is then archived onto a website. A label is sew into each garment with its corresponding number and a link to the website. The garments are gathered one final time and taken to an active Goodwill distribution center. The shirts, pants, jackets, dresses, gowns, pajamas, and coats are put back into circulation to become parts of other people’s lives. Here they will collect new stories, all of which can connect back to their past via the archive.