Photos courtesy of Robbie Lynch ’24
Amidst students chanting, making signs, and chalking in protest around Fanning Hall, a handful of students were carefully and quietly crouched over in the sunshine with a needle and thread, meticulously sewing fabric letters onto shirts.
Kazi Stanton-Thomas, a first year student, organized the sewing project as an act of protest. Their goal was to create a piece of art that could either be held or hung in support of the Student Voices for Equity movement. The project consists of five shirts, sewn together by the wrists, that read “No Justice, No Peace” in red fabric letters. “Each shirt is a muted color in a variety of colors to represent the diaspora of people around the world,” Stanton-Thomas shared. The idea was to create an art project that would represent how our college community has come together in this moment to demand action and fight injustice.
In their first year seminar, Quilting: Art, Reuse, Protest, Stanton-Thomas learned about quilting as a form of activism and was inspired to incorporate the craft into Conn’s protest movement. In the past, quilting and sewing have been a major part of social justice movements for marginalized people. While Stanton-Thomas enjoys other forms of crafting, it was not until the FYS that they learned how to sew. The class left a substantial impact on them, and they are now bringing people together in collective action for change through crafting. Professor Heidi Henderson, the instructor of the quilting FYS, gave Stanton-Thomas access to the Dance Department’s costume closet so that they could obtain appropriate materials for the project.
The small group of students were able to finish one project on Monday, the first day of demonstrations, but Stanton-Thomas hopes that they will be able to create more projects with the community in the coming days of protest. While the project is community based, sewing is an individual activity, and Stanton-Thomas spoke about their internal experience with the craft: “I think I go into a sense of mindfulness that other people go into when they meditate. It’s really how I relax; I put on some music and I sew. I’ve made a bunch of pieces since I’ve been here at Conn, it’s just how I pass my time.” Incorporating daily personal practices into the protest movement is how Stanton-Thomas and other students are staying grounded in this tumultuous moment.
Finding engaging and sustainable ways to protest is what will allow for the longevity of the Occupy Conn Coll movement. Joy, care, and mindfulness need not be absent from moments of collective outrage. In fact, it is joy, coupled with intentionality, that will fuel this movement. By implementing what they have learned in the classroom into this moment, Stanton-Thomas’ mindful individual and community practice is just one example of the ways students are practicing protest and cultivating change.
