On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. The fire is one of the worst disasters in American industrial history, as the deaths resulted from inhumane, dangerous working conditions—including locked doors within the factory. To commemorate this anniversary, in conjunction with Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, join us in observing as textile superhero Frau Fiber continues her work towards sewing 146 shirtwaist blouses.
Frau Fiber (born 1966, Apolda, Germany) worked in local garment and knitting factories until the Berlin Wall came down and she and many of her comrades lost their jobs to China. In 2006, at the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar, she met and became fast friends with Carole Frances Lung, a former garment worker and artist from the United States. Frau Fiber travels the world creating soft guerrilla actions, making apparel production transparent, and reflecting on the continued human rights abuses of global garment workers. She now lives in San Pedro, California, where she tracks the import of textile goods into the port. Frau Fiber received an anonymous donation of 200 yards of men’s shirting and acetate lining remnant fabrics to cut out 146 shirt waist blouses in honor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims. While her work is futile, she perseveres.
Carole Frances Lung (born 1966, San Francisco, CA) is a socially engaged artist, and executive director at Antenna.works, and professor of fashion, fiber, and materials at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA). As the biographer and archivist for her alter ego Frau Fiber, Lung curates and programs for the Institute for Labor Generosity Workers and Uniforms. ILGWU serves as Frau Fiber’s research center and working archive for BIG SHIP ERA, a new mission to understand globalization through the shipping supply chain. Frau Fiber facilitates an environment that reflects on the history of textile, apparel, and transportation labor rights, and supports the efforts of contemporary workers, who continue to labor at race-to-the-bottom wages. Together Lung and Frau Fiber activate a vocabulary of fashion and textile production and consumption, crafting of one-of-a-kind garments, installations, performances, and social sculpture. Lung’s archival video (4 hours, 32 minutes) from Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms of Frau Fiber vs. the Circular Knitting Machine is on view in Woven Histories.