In April 2016, I spent a week in Hancock, Michigan, working with students from the International School of Art and Design at Finlandia University. During that time, I collaborated with the students in a three-day workshop focused on storytelling and creating a textile installation called “Wings to Fly,” using textiles, paper, and acrylic colors. The design and artistic process included employing a cultural probe before the workshop, followed by collaborative storytelling and the construction of the textile installation. There were seven participants in the workshop, and six of them submitted storytelling probes before the event. The goal of the design process was to provide participants with artistic, visual, and verbal tools to process their life histories, analyse their experiences, and uncover empowering themes and resources in their stories. I designed and facilitated the process, with junior researchers participating in facilitation and video documentation of the workshop. The “My Wings to Fly” textile installation and video workshop took place from April 8th to 22nd, 2016, at the Reflection Gallery in the Jutila Centre, Hancock, MI, USA. The youth shared their vulnerable and innermost feelings through their stories. One participant reflected on her life experiences: “My dad passed away two years ago on the 31st of March. This was by far the hardest thing that I ever had to endure. This hurt more than my first heartbreak, more than the betrayal of my best friend, more than my stepdad abusing me while growing up, more than my mom staying with him, more than nearly being raped by my step-grandfather, more than my car accident that almost took my life, more than anything. My dad was a brave man, a strong man, a loving man, and my best friend.” Another participant shared a different story: “My name is NN, and ever since I was a kid, dreams were just a fantasy land. Where I grew up, dreams were simply another word for lost hope. When you talked about dreams, people laughed, as if you were a joke or high on drugs. I knew I wasn’t on any drugs, but I did know one thing: my dreams would become reality with hard work. Growing up on the South Side of NN, Michigan, in a neighborhood where your neighbour might be the next one to break into your house, I heard gunshots ringing in the air and sirens in the distance. Long nights made me feel like God must have been watching over me. With no father figure in my life, I never truly understood how to be a young man surrounded by so much corruption; I felt like a victim of my own town.”

My wings to fly” –textile installation and video workshop Refection Gallery, Jutila Center, Hancock, MI, USA the April 8th-22nd 2016

Related research: Miettinen, S. A., Sarantou, M., & Akimenko, D. (2016). Narrative-based art as means of dialogue and empowerment. In S. Golchehr, R. Ainley, A. Friend, C. Johns, & K. Raczynska (Eds.), Mediations: Art & Design Agency and Participation in Public Space (pp. 137-149). Royal College of Art.