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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SLAC Protest

UW-Madison undergraduate artists Natalie Hinahara and Steven Kaplan-Pistiner used donated university apparel to create their art installation at the bottom of Bascom Hill to commemorate the Rana Plaza Factory collapse.

Torn garments commemorate Rana Plaza victims

The Student Labor Action Coalition displayed a public art installation by UW-Madison undergraduate artists Natalie Hinahara and Steven Kaplan-Pistiner to commemorate the 1,129 people who died due to the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh two years ago Friday.

The piece, installed at the bottom of Bascom Hill Thursday, featured two walls of UW-Madison apparel with a podium between them that held a pile of torn cloths and a pair of female hands. The walls read, “When you say Wisconsin,” on one and “4.24.2013 1129 DEAD” on the other.

The piece symbolically protested Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s ties with JanSport for UW-Madison apparel production. Jansport does not source, produce or purchase anything in Bangladesh, although a parent company, the VF Corporation does, according to a February letter from Blank to SLAC

The VF Corporation maintains they continue to make working conditions safer. They have donated over $400,000 to the Rana Plaza Fund for families of the victims and was not sourcing from Rana Plaza at the time of the collapse, Corporate Spokesperson Craig Hodges said when asked about the protests.

“While our critics continue to focus their campaign in favor of the accord, VF continues to focus on making meaningful improvements on the ground in Bangladesh to improve workers safety,” Hodges said.

The two artists spoke of the image they created for the rally, describing their thought process behind their work in honor of those who died.

“We wanted to represent the victims in a light that wasn’t grotesque, especially in a commemorative piece like this,” Kaplan-Pistiner said. “But we also wanted to represent the loss and the intimacy of them being people in this abstract form.”

The artists also took precaution with the material they used by only featuring donated shirts.

“To create a piece that’s challenging this broader system, we did not want to be purchasing and supporting the corporations we are exposing,” Hinahara said. “So we did not purchase any shirts.”

Several people spoke while a petition was circulated and SLAC members gave out pamphlets to walkers on Bascom Hill.

“Now that I know more about [their cause], I agree with the protesters. It’s very powerful with the ‘When you say Wisconsin,’ then the fatality count,” freshman Jo Hadera said. “And they picked the best location for this kind of set up. It’s a clear message that is very well done and most importantly it’s peaceful.”

SLAC is scheduled to hold another protest April 30 at Library Mall.

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