The Faces of Fabric

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The Faces of Fabric: A Textile Exhibition to honor the survivors from the El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case is an immersive exhibition marking the 30th anniversary of a landmark human rights case.

This exhibit utilizes fabric and multidisciplinary works, featuring photos provided by Judy Branfman, to highlight labor, showcasing textile art and storytelling that confronts exploitation in the garment industry and beyond. By memorializing survivors' stories, the exhibition seeks to educate and empower the public on labor trafficking, immigrant/workers’/human rights, and corporate accountability, ensuring that the lessons of El Monte are remembered and the fight against modern-day slavery continues.

Thai CDC mobilized a coalition of nonprofit organizations, attorneys, and community members to offer shelter, food and clothing, medical care, jobs, and legal services to the workers following their liberation.

The artist, Chancee June, is a Los Angeles-based visual artist who utilizes her Buddhist practices to create art with a mindful eye. Chancee’s work mainly encompasses cinematography, painting, and fashion. With a soul connection to the sun, her visual identity highlights the true essence of the world through colorful perceptions that spark the imagination. During her film studies at Columbia College Hollywood, she aimed to deepen her relationship with our planet by restricting excessive consumerism and focused on curating with secondhand materials, viewing it as a lifelong commitment to sustainability and eco-consciousness. Her ongoing affinity with the natural world has led her to use her artistry underwater in efforts to create films related to ocean conservation. Chancee’s work is rooted in the commitment to be faithful to herself, the process, the truth her eyes touch, and the creative impulses that seek expression. In doing so, she adds a life-sustaining breath to the world with beauty found in her heart.

Info: This exhibit utilizes fabric & multidisciplinary works, featuring photos provided by Judy Branfman, to highlight labor, showcasing textile art and storytelling that confronts exploitation in the garment industry and beyond. By memorializing survivors' stories, the exhibition seeks to educate and empower the public on labor trafficking, immigrant/workers’/human rights, and corporate accountability, ensuring that the lessons of El Monte are remembered and the fight against modern-day slavery continues.

Info: Commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the liberation and freedom of the Thai garment workers from the landmark El Monte Slavery Compound. Speakers include some of the survivors, government, state, and local representatives, workers' rights organizations, and the artist, Chancee June.

Host or Publisher Thai Community Development Center