“The pop-up was imagined as a space that would purposely provoke stories about women's relationships with Iron Range places and communities, with work and with creativity, and with the sometimes-overlooked or undervalued labor of caring for families, places, communities [ ... ] We are all carrying a lot of stories that we don't think have a place, but once people start sharing stories it encourages others to do the same — and suddenly, we are recognizing ourselves as part of a whole community.” — Shanai Matteson
Leah Ryan from Mesabi Daily News wrote a story about the Felt Here project for MINE, a seasonal insert that goes out to all the papers across the Iron Range, covering topics related to mining. Read her story here.
I believe this section of the paper (the MINE insert) is sponsored by the mining industry or funds from IRRRB, so it was interesting for me to see our art project in this venue. Leah did a really nice job talking about a layered and long-term research and storytelling effort that addresses how industrial extraction overburdens some people and communities - and erases the stories of others.
I was glad to see that she included some quotes from Roopali about her social science and the goals of healing and culture shift underlying our collaboration. I wish there was more information here about what local people are doing to build resilience - the movements in local food production, arts and cultural work, sustainable development and restoration ecology, exemplified by groups like Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability.
This art project has a long way to go yet to really achieve the vision I'm holding - but I'm grateful to the many people who have contributed or taken the time to understand and share about it!
“My findings are that there will be a need for more metals for achieving climate solutions, especially copper and rare earths ... However, it’s possible to retrieve about 30 percent of the new metal we need from recycling and recovery. We need to build those infrastructures now because mining is always an environmentally damaging act and its not fair to ask rural people to bear those landscape burdens alone.” —Roopali Phadke
Reference:
‘Felt Here’ Interactive Art Workshop Gathers Memories - Leah Ryan, Mesabi Daily News - October 30th, 2019