Community textile installation subject of presentation

Visual arts professor Catherine Heard will present her five-year public collaboration project using traditional redwork embroidery techniques to catalogue histories of injustice in a public talk Thursday, March 28.

Heard's project, Redwork: The Emperor of Atlantis, on display through March 30 at the Artcite gallery, camouflages scenes of war, injustice, and resistance in a patchwork of embroideries that incorporates panels by more than 250 volunteers. Filled with patriotic imagery, homey domestic scenes, and fairy tale characters, the patches are contrasted with traumatic events, raising questions about how history is recorded in the domestic sphere and the stories we tell ourselves as we try to make sense of the world in which we live.

Heard will reflect on the evolution of the piece in "The Angel of History Sews with Red Thread," providing insights into the histories of redwork embroidery, craftivism, collaborative textile traditions, and the ties between textiles, protest, and revolution.

Her presentation, hosted by the Humanities Research Group, starts at 5 p.m. in the SoCA Armouries Performance Hall, 37 University Ave. East. Artcite invites the audience to view her exhibition at 109 University Ave. West from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Heard gratefully acknowledges the support of the University of Windsor Women's Research Fund, the Ignite Work Study Program for funding studio assistants, and the Humanities Research Group, where she is the 2023-24 HRG Fellow. HRG director Kim Nelson will announce the 2024-25 HRG Fellow at this event.