For all who enjoyed Sara Bunn’s Women’s History Month exhibition entitled A Day in the Life of Seneca Village, you will love what come’s next ~ an ode to Mother’s Day, and the question ~ Who’s Your Hero.
Follow along on our trip to Port Authority for a little BunnFunn for Mother’s Day.
In the Who’s Your Hero Collection, Bunn’s love of history, culture, fashion and civic duty shine through in images and references to American icons from The Supreme’s to Rosa Parks. Her vintage patterns and styles reflect everything from business attire of the day to glam holidays, reminding us of our hero’s.
This Special Mother’s Day exhibition, on view through The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Bus Terminal, and the artist, Sara Bunn, would like viewers to give some thought to the women in your life, past and present, as well as the women in history who have paved the way.
We wondered who might Sara Bunn’s hero’s be, and found this quote in Vandanese, as Bunn confessed: “My grandmother wouldn’t allow me to go outside to play because she just didn’t feel it was a safe neighborhood so I had to stay indoors…I learned to sew everything under the sun: embroidery, you name it. I was like a little old grandlady sitting there.” Inspired by her stepmother’s sense of style and fashion in the 1950s as well as movies from the 30s and 40s, Bunn developed a love of dressing well that continues even now. Designing dresses in silhouettes from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, Bunn is bringing a whole new sense of style to a generation who may not really know what a slip is for. According to Bunn, “all I know is the gorgeousness of those [30s, 40s, 50s] dresses. But more so what I was noticing was that our young ladies didn’t get that. So I said ‘well maybe if I give them some color, maybe if I bring some drama, some flair, that crinoline underneath that 1950s dress, maybe I can grab their attention. And I did.”
Bunn’s dresses are truly wearable art, but many are designed with a message. “This is fashion with a purpose. I’m using these crinolines to get somebody’s attention,” says Bunn. The dresses are designed to be wearable art and to cause fashionistas to think about what’s going on in the world around them. During her show for Small Boutique Fashion Week Bunn had a model dressed in the Martin Luther King dress carry a sign that read “I Can’t Breathe” evoking Eric Garner.
Bunn will say that she creates fashion that helps depict stories of historical-fiction rooted in truth and fact, “using textiles and photographs to share stories of ‘A Day in the Life’ of unsung heroes and heroines from past self-sufficient communities of color consisting of professional, politically savvy, and hard-working laborers, who based their principles on family, education, built institutions such as churches , schools, farms and gardens.”
“Who says elegance can’t shine in the city’s grime. When Motown meets Harlem…It’s fresh and clean. Come See About Me” The BunnFunn Collection, Who’s Your Hero: The Supremes.
Last bag (above), a tribute to Rosa Parks, often called the First Lady of Civil Rights, who was arrested on December 1, 1955 for not giving up her seat on a bus. Bunn’s tribute to this Mother of the Freedom Movement, reflects her words “Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
Sara Bunn: Who’s Your Hero is on view at Port Authority Terminal, curated by Myron Johnson, PABT Curator of Arts and Entertainment. Port Authority Terminal is located between 40th and 41st Streets, with the exhibit closer to Ninth Avenue. The exhibition will be on view through May, 2019.
Stay tuned for the exhibition, A Day in the Life of Seneca Village to be on view later this summer at a to-be-announced location.
Follow the artist, Sara Bunn and BunnFunn on Facebook and Instagram.
Happy Mother’s Day