The mission of Safe Voices is to provide person-to-person, individualized advocacy for all survivors of domestic abuse and violence, sex trafficking, and sexual exploitation in Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford Counties and engage our communities in social change to eliminate violence.
The Ephemera Project is a crowd sourced archive of the people we love and the objects that hold us together. It is evolving into a powerful collaboration based in memory, self-reflection, and vulnerability. There are notes from loved ones and objects that signify time passing - such as the broken watches of passed away family members, the baby teeth of grown children, moments in history, mementos of a vacation and a subway ride. Simple reminders of people we love and homages to life experience. I am looking for your participation. I would like this project to be inclusive: I welcome objects and stories as diverse as we are. I encourage any age group and people to participate from all over the world.
What is ephemera? Historically, the word ephemera is used to describe paper objects with no monetary value meant to be discarded, such as ticket stubs, posters and cards. Here the definition is expanded. At its heart, this project encourages and celebrates making space to value and listen to each other.
Safe Voices and artist Tanja Hollander are photographing your objects and gathering your stories for two weeks in October. Objects (no larger than 8×10″) will be photographed and catalogued, and the images will be included as part of The Ephemera Project. Your objects and stories will be on view on line and in multiple locations including at Maine MILL in Lewiston, ME.