#littlesweaterhug @ The Momentary

This special edition of #littlesweaterhug was made on site at The Momentary at the invitation of Nick Cave and in response to the question that inspired Cave’s Until: “Is there racism in heaven?” Each sweater in this edition is handknit in response to onsite conversations led by visitors to the exhibition. The hanger and the tags are part of the work and include a poem by Ronna Lebo, commissioned for the edition. Proceeds from the sale of each sweater launched the Open Mouth poet-in-residence program at Mt. Sequoyah’s Creative Spaces in Northwest Arkansas. The tag for each sweater included the text below and the poem Reckoning & Reconciliation by Ronna Lebo:

August 2020, 68-year-old Mary Holden knit in silence on the lawn of the Kentucky Attorney General as a call for justice for Breonna Taylor. Knitting is a labor of intimate handwork. It is historically gendered as “women’s work” and as a domestic of “inside” job. Brought outside, it becomes a declaration of connection, of commitment, of constancy. The knitting comes out as the revolution seeps in. To knit as protest is to call for change while forging a new fabric. To knit is also to record. Handknit fabric holds memory not only in the bend of the yarn, but also in the context-dependent memory of the knitter. The knitter and the knitting both bear witness.

a ditch grimaces at the roadside / a palace moves slightly away upon approach / a chord is swallowed by the soloist / a dead flower smells green / a meadow reaches oblivion / an iceberg melts at its border / a power line stretches to one point / a countdown rushes back to the clock / a cloud billows itself on the horizon