Interactive Women’s Art Project: Tales Of A Phoenix The Letting Go Project At Empire Outlets

Over the past three years, women have contributed pieces of fabric inscribed with what they wish to let go of.

In a series of meditative performances, Schnitzler has stitched these testimonies together into a room-filling skirt, representing the global feminine voice.

The project will culminate in a ritual dance performance in which Schnitzler wears the skirt radiating with these women’s collective energy, then publicly destroy the skirt in a powerful symbol of release and letting go, currently scheduled for summer 2024.

During its Staten Island tour, the visually stunning skirt will be on display for everyone to take in, while women viewers are invited to participate by inscribing their messages on a piece of fabric provided on site. Schnitzler will then add these panels to the ever-growing skirt in meditative stitching performances.

‘Tales of a Phoenix: The Letting Go Project’ celebrates the power of sharing and community. The enormous skirt reveals a patchwork of deeply personal statements that is profoundly moving and – at the same time – extremely inspiring.

As curator Lori Love notes “I first came across this powerful project when it was exhibited at the Chashama storefront gallery in Manhattan’s Garment District in 2021. Ever since it was my plan to bring it to Staten Island, and it’s happening now. It is women empowerment on a new and very real level.”

Tales of a Phoenix: The Letting Go Project is made possible, in part, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Further support was provided by Chashama, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Grove 34, and The Feminist Art Project. Staten Island tour support was provided, in part, by Staten Island Arts.

For further information, please visit https://www.humankinetics.org/tales-of-a-phoenix.

Banner Image: Tales of Phoenix. Image Credit – Yana Schnitzler