21c Museum Hotel Chicago is proud to host a Sewing Circle on August 26 with Artist in Residence, Michelle Hartney. As part of her collaborative mixed media project and exhibition, Unplanned Parenthood: Letters to an Army of Millions, Hartney will lead the sewing circle and join Ameri Klafeta, Director of the Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project (WRRP), in an intimate conversation surrounding the impact of the overturn of Roe vs. Wade.

As a community, we will gather to sew select letters from Motherhood in Bondage, a collection of letters received by Margaret Sanger in 1928 from mothers asking for help to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Sewing circles have traditionally served as a time for women to gather and talk, sometimes working on projects, such as this one, focused on creating a more just society. On August 26, we welcome all genders and community members to join us for sewing and dialog about reproductive rights.

The artist will supply kits during the sewing circle and the first ten participants will receive a fine art print. All events are a safe space for community dialog around reproductive rights. Register here

Unplanned Parenthood exhibition

Unplanned Parenthood is a collaborative, textile-based piece exploring historical attacks on reproductive health access and calling for intersectional reproductive justice. Hartney will work with volunteers from across the country to tell the stories of more than 250,000 women who penned desperate letters in the 1920’s asking for help ending and preventing pregnancies. The letters come from Motherhood in Bondage, a collection published by Margaret Sanger in 1928 of the correspondence she received when any information about contraception was deemed “obscene,” and disseminating it was punishable by law.

Volunteers can participate onsite at 21c Chicago by penning a letter from Motherhood in Bondage onto floral paper designed by the artist or sewing a handwritten letter onto vintage bridal fabrics. Throughout the exhibition, Michelle will be onsite at 21c furthering the development of the project, exhibition, and dialog.