Help Deborah & Janis Bring Parallel Threads to Rhode Island

At the end of the 20th century, textile mill closures were a widespread phenomenon in the Western world. Since 2019, Deborah Baronas from Rhode Island, USA, and Dr Janis Hanley from Queensland, Australia, have been developing Parallel Threads – Entangled Ends, a retrospective study of this industry. They're bringing this exhibit to Rhode Island this December.

As they prepare for this exhibit, Deborah and Janis are reaching out to the community to support this exhibit.

Your contribution will help cover essential costs, including:

More about Parallel Threads

Presented as an immersive art and historical exhibition, Parallel Threads explores the senescence of the textile industry in Ipswich, Australia, 1950s -1990s alongside the analogous demise of the textile industry in the United States. This exhibit will be displayed at the Bristol Art Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island, from December 8, 2024 – January 26, 2025.

The exhibition also addresses the relationship between the historical significance and contemporary uses of these mill buildings to encourage heightened awareness of the importance of these mill structures and the spirits of the workers within them. The research also opens up the conversation about what presence the industry has today

in Australia and the USA, how it has evolved, and what is its potential.

With your help, we can ensure that this exhibit tells the story of the importance of the textile industry to our community and the threads that bind us to similar communities around the world.

About Deborah & Janis

Deborah Baronas’s artwork explores the lives of workers who are the bedrock of our culture. Recording their stories, she visually shares them through immersive sculptural installations that capture their spirit, tenacity, and hope.

Dr. Janis Hanley, Griffith University, focuses on what heritage creates –

and the voices not usually heard. Her doctoral research explored Queensland’s woolen textile industry, interviewing former workers about their mill experiences and the impacts of mill closures on the regional city of Ipswich.