Woven Prayers on Melting Ice

Woven Prayers on Melting Ice is an alert, an alarm, a call for extreme mobilization, a warning, a distress call, an emergency – the red weave created by Stephanie Stoker is blood, life, mothers, hearts, anger, grief, violence, despair, immediacy. The making of and showing this work was and is an act of action and hope. It is a complete rejection of imperial colonialism that has ravaged the world, raging blind capitalism, entitlement, arrogance, and violence. It is an act of and call for the most extreme reverence, the most profound love and the deepest grief. The work was created in April 2023 while Sarah was part of The Arctic Circle Residency for Art and Science, a self-directed residence sailing aboard the tall ship Antigua. The two-week journey led them to some of the most isolated areas in the high arctic, navigating around the west coast of Svalbard to reach beyond 80º north latitude, nearing the North Pole.