Afterlives: Material Stories from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection explores the many lives of objects and what happens to textiles after they enter the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. From a child’s feed sack dress lovingly crafted and then saved on a family farm to an intricate robe from Turkmenistan that traveled halfway around the world, material things carry traces of people and things through the past, present, and future in our Collection. Both poetic and practical, the exhibition explores what these treasures can teach us if we pay attention to their stories.
This exhibition was curated by Prof. Sarah Anne Carter, Prof. of Design Studies and Executive Director of the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture. Support for this exhibition comes from the Anonymous Fund.