The REDress Project

This week on the 1909, we have the opportunity to shed light on a striking campus art project that is being showcased to draw attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women called the "REDress Project."

What is The 1909 from The State News?

Welcome to The 1909, the podcast that takes an in-depth look at The State News’ biggest stories of the week, while bringing in new perspectives from the reporters who wrote them.

Alex: 00:12

It's Thursday, March 13th, and this is the 19 09, the state news weekly podcast featuring all reporters talking about the news. I'm your host, Alex Walters. This week, a striking campus art project draws attention to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. We'll talk about what the display means, and how it made its way to MSU. And here to tell us all about it is Emilio Preza Barbone.

Alex: 00:33

A campus reporter here at the state news. One of the first guests of the 19 09, back in the day in this new format of the show. Yeah. Welcome to the show.

Emilio: 00:41

Hey. Thanks for having me, Alex.

Alex: 00:42

It's great to have you on again. So, yeah. Well, let's start this way. You know, for those who spend time on MSU's campus daily, you probably already know what we're talking about. Because you probably seen it walking around.

Alex: 00:53

It's it's hard to miss. But for those who don't, it's about 60 red dresses hanging off of these sticks all around Beaumont Tower, and the library, and those nice lawns inside of Circle Drive. And it's striking these bright red dresses that are hanging and blowing in the wind. You know, I remember biking around campus, I think after spring break when I first caught it. And you have dug and you've talked to the artists and the curators and someone from the institute that studies this kind of thing at MSU.

Alex: 01:18

And you've written this great story talking about this exhibit and what it means, and you're here to tell us about it today. But, you know, before we get into anything specific, just tell us what are these red dresses that people are seeing all over campus?

Emilio: 01:29

Yeah. So these red dresses, which, like you said, are suspended in the air around campus, are part of something called the Red Dress Project. And this was brought to campus, through the MSU Museum, but it's also a campus wide collaboration between the Buick Botanical Garden, Native American Institute, and other on campus partners.

Alex: 01:43

Yeah. And so what what what are these red dresses? What do they what do they symbolize? What do they mean?

Emilio: 01:47

Well, these red dresses again so the red dress project is, behind an artist named, Jamie Black Morissette, and it's really about drawing attention to this ongoing crisis of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls.

Alex: 01:58

Yeah. And in your story, it says that these dresses, you know, they kind of represent these misses these missing women with this striking image of these empty dresses hanging in the wind that are obviously, you know, lacking the person, you know, that would be wearing them that would be inside of them. And, you know, and so your story sort of explains that you also have data nationally about the breadth of this issue. And can you tell us a little bit about that?

Emilio: 02:18

So Kevin Leonard, the interim director of the Native American Institute here at MSU, told me actually that 4 out of 5, Native American women have experienced violence within their lives, be it, you know, physical violence or sexual violence.

Alex: 02:30

Mhmm. And you talked to the artist behind this exhibit that's been seen on kind of draw attention to that issue. And, you know, this isn't the first one. This is, you know, part of this larger project?

Emilio: 02:40

Yeah. So Jamie Blackmores had told me that, you know, they've been doing this, art installation for almost 10 years now. It's traveled, you know, various college campuses across Canada and the United States. And so, again, you know, this is just the most recent installation of that project.

Alex: 02:53

Yeah. And how did it make its way to MSU? You know, you talked to the curator of the MSU Museum that's sort of running this installation. Why did they feel it was important to have this striking exhibit, you know, so prominently displayed at the of campus?

Emilio: 03:07

Yeah. So Devin Aikman, the director of the MSU Museum, told me that I mean, really, I mean, you're kind of alluding to it right here. It's so striking. You cannot ignore this. Mhmm.

Emilio: 03:15

And so, really, it's about this issue that might not be known on a campus that's majority white and drawing attention to this crisis and just informing the public.

Alex: 03:22

And it's and it's so cool to see it too in such a public space where normally, you know, the MC Museum, I think has a lot of exhibits that cycle through throughout the year, but they're inside the museum or in there in sort of the off campus gallery underneath that garage on Grand River that sometimes you'll see them in as well. But seeing this, you know, I I I bet every single student in MSU has seen this. It's just so prominent in the center of campus. It's cool to see it displayed so publicly. You know, what is the significance of the red dresses themselves as opposed to just, you know, other colors?

Alex: 03:49

Is there something behind that?

Emilio: 03:51

Yeah. So Black Morsa told me that that decision to use the color red really came from drawing from her own identity, I guess, as a Native American. She mentioned that the color red in a lot of cultures around the world is a very sacred color. It represents life. It represents blood.

Emilio: 04:04

It's what animates us. It's what connects us is what she said.

Alex: 04:09

Yeah. And the the dresses themselves, these red dresses, they're they're just any red dresses or there's, you know, specific significance to the actual objects themselves?

Emilio: 04:17

Well, so these red dresses so about 40 of them. It's 60 in total. 40 of them come from Black Morsett's personal collection, which he tours around, with these installations. And another 20 or so actually come from Native American communities in the surrounding Lansing and Okonos area.

Alex: 04:31

Oh, really, like, from local communities? These are dresses that have been worn by indigenous women?

Emilio: 04:35

Exactly. Yes. And they're all worn by indigenous women.

Alex: 04:38

That that's very cool. And so are there plans to have, you know, more of these exhibits at MSU, you know, elsewhere?

Emilio: 04:45

Well, from everyone who I talked to, they clearly have enjoyed this installation. They think that it's bringing light to an important issue.

Alex: 04:51

Mhmm.

Emilio: 04:52

But at the same time, there is an overwhelming feeling that we shouldn't need to highlight this issue. Right? I when I spoke to Kevin Leonard, one of the last things he told me was, you know, this is a great exhibit, but, ultimately, we hope that in 10 years' time, we don't have to be doing this again.

Alex: 05:06

In a perfect world, there wouldn't be this issue to to draw attention to with these dresses.

Emilio: 05:09

Exactly.

Alex: 05:10

Yeah. Well, it's a great story. You've done a great job of, you know, explaining the significance and some things that people might not know just when they see this exhibit while they're walking around campus. And And thank you so much for coming on the show and

Emilio: 05:20

and talking about it. Of course. Thanks for having me.

Alex: 05:22

Yeah. That's all for now. We'll be back next week with fresh reporting from the great minds here at State News. Until then, the stories we discussed and plenty more available at statenews.com. Thank you to my guest, Emilio, podcast editor, Anthony Brinson, and video producer, Brad LaPlante.

Alex: 05:36

And most of all, thank you for listening. For the 19:0:9, I'm Alex Walters.