25 years ago 800,000 people died in a mass genocide in Rwanda. For the last three years Randy Mason has been working with Rwanda’s government to protect and conserve monuments, such as the church of the Nyamata Memorial. After the genocide people started bringing material remains, like clothes, to locations where mass murders happened.
Mason and his team are working together to repair and conserve the building memorials but also the material remains, which brings its own set of challenges.
“We don’t know the exact story; people just started piling clothes of the victims on the pews as their simple, straightforward memorial. We’re helping them conserve that.” (Mason)
University of Pennsylvanis Stuart Weitzman School of Design faculty including Randy as well as Michael Henry are working with textile conservator Julia Brennan to maintain the clothes for as long as possible. They have come up with a temporary solution to partially clean them which will prolong their lifespan by a decade or two.
Expand Image
