This community-focused work incorporates a hand-made dress form adorned with a decorative dress, or costume that is continuously being created.

The garment itself uses a wireframe, with scraps of fabric, either left blank or signed with a brief message from viewers of the work, before being tied to the wire, and slowly building out the dress. This allows each person who passes by, to add a piece of themselves to the collective work, building both a shared sense of community, and a shared archive of memories.

Some of the inspirations for the piece include the popular women’s periodical “Hot Wire,” the loud and proud album cover of Angel With A Lariat, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.). We wanted to make this work continue to build on the communities that we have formed through this project, and allow others to share in the creation of a collective memory.

Our work is loud, messy, and like us, demands to be seen and heard. Looking back to Gonzalez-Torres’s work, we wanted to make a piece that was additive rather than subtractive, to focus on joy that we have found throughout the intergenerational experience.

Overall, making the piece was quite enjoyable. We were able to come together and pool our wisdom and energies into making an artwork that has surprised us all. Initially, we had a bit of a rough start – with everyone a bit nervous, not knowing each other well, but we fell into a routine, with some of the youngers helping to lead the art-making

We’ve all been able to learn from and inspire each other throughout the process, each of us adding our unique skills, to help keep each other on track and grounded. Since we were an intergenerational group, we were able to draw on different understandings of our shared histories. It was also interesting to see the dynamic that unfolded, as we began to see our group less as separated by generations, but more as engaging in a continuous cycle of knowledge, sharing – each of us drawing on our unique skills and backgrounds to add to the process, similar to our aim for the work itself, to interact with the community.

We invited attendees to use the provided materials to share their LGBTQ + stories, memories, and histories by adding to this collective garment – using colors, words, phrases, and drawings.

Thank you!