Emma's Walk
2009
Participatory Event
Made in Collaboration with Sara Smith and Rebecca Armstrong
On August 15, 1889, Emma Goldman began her life anew. A working class Russian Jewish immigrant, Goldman became deeply inspired as a teenager by the anarchist movement. At twenty, she entered New York with the express intention of becoming an anarchist leader. Goldman had studied dressmaking, and she planned to work as a self-employed dressmaker while fighting for the rights of workers. When she arrived at the ferry terminal on W. 42nd Street, however, she was compelled to leave her sewing machine behind at the station, since it was too heavy to carry on the long walk to the Lower East Side.
One hundred and Twenty Years, three weeks, and two days later, we carried the sewing machine for Emma. In "Emma's Walk," part ritual procession and part mobile historical display, a group of collaborators and participants commemorated Goldman's legacy by re-creating Emma's historic walk, from the Ferry Terminal on West 39th Street, to the Lower East Side. Participants were invited to join the walk for any part of it, and the project led to many conversations about Emma, labor history, and women's rights with passersby on the streets.
Custom T-shirts were made for the event by collaborator Rebecca Armstrong. For several years, Armstrong has undertaken a project entitled "Garment Worker" in which she makes all of her own clothing, attempting to create handmade clothes that "pass" as industrially produced. Armstrong hand made a series of t-shirts to be worn by participants.
Listen to radio coverage of Emma's Walk from WFMU's Acousmatic Theater Hour by Emma's Walk participant Karinne Keithley:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32847
On August 15, 1889, Emma Goldman began her life anew. A working class Russian Jewish immigrant, Goldman became deeply inspired as a teenager by the anarchist movement. At twenty, she entered New York with the express intention of becoming an anarchist leader. Goldman had studied dressmaking, and she planned to work as a self-employed dressmaker while fighting for the rights of workers. When she arrived at the ferry terminal on W. 42nd Street, however, she was compelled to leave her sewing machine behind at the station, since it was too heavy to carry on the long walk to the Lower East Side.
One hundred and Twenty Years, three weeks, and two days later, we carried the sewing machine for Emma. In "Emma's Walk," part ritual procession and part mobile historical display, a group of collaborators and participants commemorated Goldman's legacy by re-creating Emma's historic walk, from the Ferry Terminal on West 39th Street, to the Lower East Side. Participants were invited to join the walk for any part of it, and the project led to many conversations about Emma, labor history, and women's rights with passersby on the streets.
Custom T-shirts were made for the event by collaborator Rebecca Armstrong. For several years, Armstrong has undertaken a project entitled "Garment Worker" in which she makes all of her own clothing, attempting to create handmade clothes that "pass" as industrially produced. Armstrong hand made a series of t-shirts to be worn by participants.
Listen to radio coverage of Emma's Walk from WFMU's Acousmatic Theater Hour by Emma's Walk participant Karinne Keithley:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/32847