The Healing Memorial

**The Healing Memorial was on view at Cranbrook Art Museum through September 24, 2023, as part of Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other and is currently in Cranbrook Art Museum’s Collection Wing.

Cranbrook Art Museum, The City of Detroit, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Huntington Place have organized a large-scale memorial art installation to help our community heal from loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Healing Memorial is a site-specific adaptation of the Beaded Prayers Project by world-renowned artist Sonya Clark (CAA, MFA Fiber ’95), which has traveled the world for more than two decades. For this project, metro area Detroit residents have created small memorial pouches using fabric from their loved ones or donated material and folded inside a written commemoration, intention, wish, or prayer. The pouches were then sewn shut with decorative beads—each one a unique handmade object.

To date, more than 4,000 regional residents created personal pieces of art in honor of their losses. The Healing Memorial installation is open to the public:

Huntington Place (formerly TCF Center)

1 Washington Blvd, Detroit, MI, Level 3

(Enter at the corner of Washington and Congress)

Monday – Saturday from 12- 5pm

The project remains open for submissions by all regional residents who have experienced physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, occupational, or environmental loss. To learn more about participation, please visit https://detroitriverfront.org/thehealingmemorial

The Healing Memorial is curated by Laura Mott, Chief Curator, Cranbrook Art Museum in collaboration with Rochelle Riley, Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit, and Rachel Frierson, Director of Public Programming for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The project is made possible by the generous support of the Ford Fund, Huntington Bank, the City of Detroit, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and Cranbrook Art Museum.