Our Story Archive‘s First Big Day Out!
Last week, GRR! had the tremendous honor of exhibiting our work at the Reproductive Freedom Fair in downtown Waterville, Maine.
Those of you who know our archive are familiar with the beauty of collecting elders’ abortion stories in one place–but sharing those stories on a large community scale and in such a welcoming and dynamic space was a pleasure and an exciting beginning to a new chapter of public storytelling.
We included archive stories from Betty Gunz and Diane Oltarzewski (via the storytellers recorded on film–the audience was able to see them tell their stories in projected videos, on a loop) and from Ellen Israel, Kelly Salasin and Lucille Ann Mann (visually, on foam display boards).
We also displayed some absolutely beautiful quilt square submissions from our Voices of Abortion quilt project from Rebecca Wilson (FL), Carol Jacobs (NY, whose abortion story can also be found in the archive), and Polly Horne (FL).
We are so thankful for the rich and welcoming intergenerational space–what GRR!’s work is all about! The Colby students with whom we were fortunate enough to work, Deviyani, India and Aishah–and their .
Elayne and GRR! Pop Up buddies Chris, Bobby, and Kim engaged with visitors and the students.
Deviyani later wrote, in a wonderfully gracious email to GRR!:
“I really really appreciated this chance to get to work with you and get to know your organization better. Your work is SO IMPORTANT and I applaud you for dedicating your life to this!”
We were really excited by how eager the students were to engage with the archive, and what willing collaborators. This was the first time GRR!’s archive was exhibited in this way, and it’s inspired us to find more ways to bring them into the public sphere as an exhibit!
Spread the word about our abortion stories archive, and catch us at the next event!
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