GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Among the hundreds of entries and exhibits around Grand Rapids for ArtPrize is a display that sheds light on sexual abuse and the trauma associated with it.
Few pieces offer as somber and enlightening an experience as Red Jeans Redemption. Pamela Alderman is the curator behind the exhibit. She’s also the executive director of Healing in Arts, a nonprofit that serves veterans, refugees, those with disabilities and incarcerated teens. She urges them to participate in creating community art pieces to encourage and promote healing.
Red Jeans Redemption is one of those pieces. It showcases around 120 pairs of red denim pants that have been written on and altered by survivors of sexual trauma, sex trafficking or any other kind of sexual abuse.
Collaborative art event aims to support survivors
“On one pair of pants, the individual cut circles in the pants, and then inside on the backside of the jeans, the person wrote how they felt,” Alderman explained as she walked through the aisles of shepherds hooks that hold the jeans. “The idea is that ‘This is what is represented on the outside, but if you looked inside, this is how I feel.’”…