25 Million Stitches was initiated and conceived in May 2019 by Jennifer Kim Sohn, a multimedia artist and activist, in Sacramento, CA (https://www.jenniferkimsohn.com)  to create a community of art activists, to visually document the enormity of the number of refugees in the world and to sustain the concern for the refugees in the minds of global citizens.

Host This Exhibit

Although our community managed to collect all 25 million hand sewn stitches within a year, our mission of sharing this work widely to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis has just begun. We have shows scheduled in Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles and in future shows in yuma Arizona, Wisconsin, St Louis MO, Portland Maine, Pittsburgh England, and South Korea. We are currently booked through Summer of 2024. Although to install the full show, the minimum space requirement is 2,400 sq ft and show to run 3 months, we will work with each venue’s specific limitations and needs so that we can share the work as widely as possible.

If you are interested in booking the show, please contact Jennifer Kim Sohn at 25MillionStitches@gmail.com

How Our Community Grew

Although it took over 9 months of slow community building, the project gained global traction by the 10th month when  23 million additional hand sewn stitches were sent in from all over the U.S. and world, surpassing our goal of collecting 25 million stitches. The stitches were counted, panel by panel, through the methods of sample counting four 1 x 1 inch squares and multiplying and averaging the number of stitches. 

We rely on a dedicated team of volunteers. Many of the time-consuming tasks : responding and sending out panels, collating the stitcher data, photographing and recording the panels, counting the stitches, sharing the progress through social media, combining panels into 9-14ft flags for installation, and re-adjusting height of the flags for various venues, are all managed by volunteers.

How does making 25 million stitches help refugees? We believe that this project is a way for us to engage with this global crisis instead of ignoring it. And even though no single stitch can fully represent an individual, the act of stitching and the resulting work will help bring attention to the scale of the crisis and build communities of concerned activists.

How to Support the Project

Write to your local museums and media to introduce the project. A personal account of describing your experience of participating in this project is very effective. You may use any part of this website to explain the project and why you would like the show to come to your local museum. Do include the image of your panels.

If you email to potential venues please copy us at 25millionstitches@gmail.com, so we can follow up with a show proposal.

FUNDRAISING

We are continuing our fundraising effort to cover the current expenses as well as to prepare for installation and travel cost of future shows. GoFundMe:

Tag us on Instagram and share your Facebook posts using #25millionstitches.

Art Activism and Refugee Support

*The statistical refugee count is based on the UN Refugee Agency’s 2017 projection based on their study of refugees in 2016. Read the link to UNHCR.

Seven Ways Our Businesses Can Help Refugees --by Melissa Fleming, syndicated from ideas.ted.com, Jul 31,

Online 'university of anywhere' opens to refugees— by Sean Coughlan BBC Business News July 19, 2018

The calming effects of sewing can help people express and heal themselves— by Clare Hunter, Guardian, Feb 2019

Does Activism make you happy? —By Aditya Chakradotti. Guardian Bainefood