Threads of connection to Triangle tragedy
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Four lines of tables, each covered
by a 60-foot length
of canvas, stretched the
span of of F.I.T.’s John E.
Reeves Great Hall. It was
noon on Sunday morning,
March 17, and the
atmosphere was buzzing
.T
he creative energies
of those skilled
with fabric and embellishments,
sewing
and other needlework
were adding their input
into “A Collective
Ribbon,” a creation
formed from smaller
individual pieces of fabric
brought by the participants.
These “ribbons” — a
total of 300 feet, 2 feet wide,
once fi nished — are part of a new
permanent memorial to the Triangle
Fire.
Participants were asked to bring fabric
or items that had meaning to them
that would become a part of the ribbon,
which would add to the “texture”
of an element of the memorial.
The ribbon will be scanned and cast
in metal. It will then be installed stretching
up the corner of the building at the
northwest
corner
of Washington Place and
Greene St. that was the
site of the tragic Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
The installation will reach
past the ninth fl oor of the
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
For his collaboration
with the project, Dr.
Fedele Vero transferred
a photograph
onto fabric of his
great-aunt, one of the
146 victims of the Triangle
Fire tragedy.
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
One of the fabric
strips at the
“Collective Ribbon”
event. People
sewed other
fabric strips or
meaningful items
onto them.
building, which is today owned by New
York University.
Dianna brought crocheted edgings
her great-grandmother had made. Her
niece Anna sewed onto the canvas the
silky bolero from her grandmother’s
wedding dress.
Adding to the collaborative project,
Dr. Fedele Vero transferred a photograph
onto the fabric of his great aunt
who perished in the fi re. Catherine
Uzzo also perished in the disaster and
her great-great niece remembered her
by writing her name in yarn. Others
added pieces to the canvas that just
had personal references.
“It was nice to be part of a collaborative
event with a lot of others,”
said Chelsea resident Marta
Schmidt. An experienced sewer, her
long and abiding interest in women’s
labor rights made her involvement in
the creative project deeply meaningful
for her.
Designers Richard Joon Yoo and
Uri Wegman won the memorial design
competition that Remember the
Triangle Fire Coalition held in 2013.
The design has been approved by the
Landmarks Preservation Commission
and Community Board 2. The project
is moving steadily ahead toward the
construction phase.
“We hope to complete this by the
fi re’s anniversary date, March 25,
2020,” said Daniel Levinson Wilk, an
F.I.T. history professor and a board
member of the coalition. He noted how
collaborative aspects like the “Collective
Ribbon” help engage the community
with the memorial.
The items or fabric swatches that
people brought along with their accompanying
stories were photographed to
document them before being attached
to the canvas. These, along with testimonies
that were videotaped in front
of a Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
quilt, will be archived at Kheel Center
for Labor-Management Documentation
& Archives at Cornell.
During the two-day F.I.T. event,
while women and men practiced their
needlecraft skills, various other Triangle
Fire programming took place.
On Sun., March 17, actress Lulu
Lolo evocatively presented her oneperson
“Soliloquy for a Seamstress,”
in which she portrayed Triangle victim
Sarafi na Saracino, who, with her sister
Teresina Saracino, is caught in the
factory as the smoke and fi re rise, and
they ultimately jump to their deaths.
The Young People’s Chorus performed
a moving segment of the opera “Fire in
My Mouth,” by Julia Wolfe, inspired by
the deadly blaze.
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer attended and observed the
sewing in progress.
The annual commemoration of the
anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire was held Mon., March
25, at what today is known as N.Y.U.’s
Brown Building, one block east of
Washington Square Park.
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6 April 11, 2019 CNW Schneps Media