By Our Own Hand

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021– NOW CLOSED JULY 13, 2022

Frontline Arts in collaboration with Donna Bassin

MAM presents a year-long, site-specific installation in Laurie Art Stairway, in collaboration with Frontline Arts and Donna Bassin. On view are approximately 800 sheets of handmade paper created from veterans’ uniforms and provided by Frontline Paper, an initiative of Frontline Arts. Inspired by the ancient practice of Tibetan prayer flags hung to mark an important and challenging occasion, BOOH refers to the toll of veteran deaths by their own hand as well as to the resiliency and creativity from transforming military uniforms into handmade paper.  This craft as a connective practice brings the diversity of veterans’ experience into culture—away from silence, and with this installation, opens a dialogue around veteran suicide. While the actual number of daily suicides among the veteran population has fluctuated between 17 and 22 per day since 2001, it consistently remains at a rate more than twice that of the rest of the population.

Reserve tickets to visit the museum here: https://www.montclairartmuseum.org/exhibition/our-own-hand