Elevate at 21c: Hannah March Sanders and Blake Sanders

Elevate at 21c showcases the work of artists in St. Louis and the central Mississippi River region, highlighting the range and depth of visual culture in this dynamic, ever-changing area. 

Throughout this exhibition Moraa N. Nyaribo, Marina Peng, Hannah Sanders, and Blake Sanders express how intergenerational memory and knowledge create foundations for their paths through the world. Parts of these foundations are strong but stand apart from the contemporary world, which often focuses only on the present; other parts may be faded or lost. Using traditional, craft-based techniques of weaving, braiding, crocheting, and embroidery with contemporary materials and forms, each artist uses time and labor to celebrate and also break with the past. Tactile threads woven by hands create patterns and materials anew, but familiar over generations.  

The artists articulate their presence in this specific moment and place, establishing a dialogue that links past traditions with future generations. The Sanders acknowledge and respond to their experience of building a family in southern Missouri. Their respect for the land is viewed as a necessity for the healthy, responsible growth of their children and of future generations.

Outward appearance, either of hair or dress, is referenced in each of the artworks. Hannah Sanders crochets thrifted fast fashion to create Footprint No. 20. The recycled materials once worn and discarded still contain the familiarity and wear from their previous life. 

Each artist references what is hidden in comparison to what is shown. The artist’s choice of sharing this narrative through a blanket references the same domesticity that inspired Blake Sanders in Little House Upon a Foundation of Others’ Homelands. Here a family home rests on buried layers naming the six nations of Indigenous people whose homelands were once located in Cape Girardeau. The stripes of colors for each come from contemporary flags or seals used by each nation. Sanders pays tribute to the history hidden beneath our lives, by responsibly stewarding “the little plot we’re privileged to foster.”

Hannah March Sanders and Blake Sanders 
Through the lens of a domestic, family space artistic and life partners Hannah March Sanders and Blake Sanders create artworks that explore family body politics using traditional fabric manipulation techniques in untraditional ways. A site-altered installation in the shape of a cloud or spill, Footprint No. 20, analyses the use of fossil fuels and resources by leaving little to no material waste. In KIMBY (Knot In My Backyard) and Little House Upon a Foundation of Others’ Homelands, Blake Sanders acknowledges the necessary but often neglected connections within communities and with the land and communities of the past – the resources and connections that make life sustainable.