Art Reach is hosting a REDress Exhibit titled “No More Stolen Sisters” in The Morey Family Gallery from April 29-May 7, 2024.

A reception will be held from 5-6:30 pm on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at Art Reach of Mid Michigan in The Morey Family Gallery, 111 E. Broadway in downtown Mt. Pleasant. All exhibits and receptions are free and open to the public.

The REDress Project was begun in 2011 by Métis artist Jaime Black after attending a conference where she heard about the hundreds of missing and murdered women in Canada. Her first display of red dresses was at the University of Winnipeg and its purpose was to bring attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The dresses are displayed empty so they invoke the missing women who should be wearing them. The color red is symbolic: it is said to be the only color the spirits can see, it relates to our lifeblood, and it represents both vitality and violence.

The display of the red dresses provides an opportunity for dialogue about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW) and offers a space for voices to be heard and stories to be told.

In our community, a coalition of representatives from the Saginaw Chippewa Behavioral Health Victims Services, the Zonta Club of Mt Pleasant, RISE Advocacy, McLaren Hospital and the CMU Museum of Cultural And Natural History are joining together to recognize the National Day of Remembrance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. There will be red dress displays throughout our community during the month of May and community events at Art Reach of Mid Michigan and the Broadway Park. This will involve a series of red dress displays throughout our community during the month of May as well as related events. The official observance of Red Dress Day is May 5.