Red Thread Collective is: Ami Mehta, Sneha Bhavsar, Rakhee Jain

From The Artist: “Folding Stories is much more than an art object in a space; this artwork embodies the story of Alief’s rich past, present and future. Our multi-faceted, multi-patterned, folded plane sculptures don’t simply acknowledge the diversity of Alief; they actually celebrate Alief’s ethnic, cultural and racial multiplicity—in the forms they take, the textiles we create, and even in the fabrication methods themselves. Each of the large suspended sculptures were purposefully designed with multifaceted folded shapes. The “folds” within the sculptures are reminiscent of folded paper letters inspired by Alief’s first postmistress, Alief Magee, the community’s namesake. Alief Magee’s legacy resonates in our design in two ways. First, we incorporated small portions of historical correspondence from the Alief Historical Society’s archives into our handmade fabric panels. Second, by partnering with community organizations, we collected hand-written letters from long-standing community members conveying their stories, memories, hopes and wishes for future generations of Alief. Our innovative, flexible design has been developed to achieve very different views depending on how the structure is angled or turned. Thus the three works are fabricated as exactly identical pieces; and by rotating or flipping when installing them in the Stairitorium, they will be experienced as three unique forms." The metal frame for each sculpture consists of (32) welded aluminum tube-plate assemblies that connect at the nodes to form the skeleton of the sculpture. The 3D printed nodes are intricate unique pieces located at the vertices of the sculpture, made of aluminum filled nylon-12 material, and finished with a matte black paint coat.The textiles and fabrics created for the facets are made up of a variety of different materials that allow light through in certain areas. Project Team: Metalab Studio, Joe Meppelink, Andrew Vrana, Lana Barakeh. Structural Engineering: Lysaght & Associates. Fabrication: Star Precision, Merge Studios. Installation: Merge Studios