“The Stories We Wear” is an exhibition at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College for students to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives.
In total, the work of 31 students helped create the exhibit. Lauryn Baldwin is Inupiaq from Northwest Alaska and a senior at the college. Baldwin has recently lost relatives to this violence. She chose to use images of her loved ones that were sewn on a pocket of traditional native regalia. Baldwin said some of her peers didn’t want to contribute for fear of overshadowing other people's experiences.
“People are affected in one way or another, whether they realize it or not. A lot of people that didn't want to maybe contribute to this piece because they were afraid that they were taking away from others that were maybe affected more, but I mean, everybody knew somebody that went missing.”
The Center of Southwest Studies is looking for more opportunities to display this exhibition.