My friend, Alida Brill, and her friend, artist Susan Springer Anderson, have collaborated on a project to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and which they call simply:
11.03.25.11
The show A League Of Our Own, with both Susan and Alida interviewed by Fran Spencer will air Thursday, March 24th from 6 pm to 6:30 pm EST. It can be heard on 88.7 FM in Nassau and western Suffolk and some parts of Manhattan, but it can be heard worldwide at WRHU.org. Here is the exact link to listen online: http://live.streamwrhu.net/
A "virtual event" will happen on Alida's website on Thursday before the radio show and will remain up throughout the weekend and throughout next week.
Susan's piece is a creative reinterpretation of a shirtwaist of the time, using Tyvek, a building material. Her choice of "fabric" has special meaning and is discussed by Susan in the radio interview and will be described fully on the website Thursday.
What appears to be floral embroidery designs on the piece are actually the individual names of each of the 146 victims. Susan used an embroidery calligraphy style pen to sign each and every one of the names of those killed that day. The shirtwaist is the style the girls and women would have been wearing, but none of them would have had embroidery or embellishment on their garments. Those were reserved for the women who could afford them, and indeed, resemble closely what the women were making for the wealthy and more privileged women of 1911.
They will be updating with live photographs on Friday the 25th from a variety of memorials as well as photographs of the CHALK project names.
There was also a HBO documentary earlier this week that is awaiting me on my DVR.