Tag: The Future Belongs to the Loving

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May Exhibitions & Beyond

2025 is shaping up to be a powerful year of storytelling, connection, and expansive visibility for my work across the U.S. and beyond. From New York City to San Diego, and even home on St. Croix, I’m honored to present a range of projects that explore collective memory, material transformation, and healing through fiber. Here’s where you can find me:

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Dates: May 8–11, 2025
Location: Halo, 28 Liberty Street, NYC
I’m thrilled to return to 1-54, the leading fair dedicated to contemporary African art, presenting new work that bridges ancestral narratives with present-day urgency.

The Future Belongs to the Loving
Dates: May 3 – July 31, 2025
Location: MAPSpace, 6 N Pearl St 4th Floor, Port Chester, NY
More Info
I’ll be sharing Free Your Mind, a participatory installation unpacking microaggressions and offering a communal space for release and reflection.

FIBER 2025
Dates: May 10 – June 19, 2025
Opening Reception: May 17, 2025
Location: Silvermine Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Rd, New Canaan, CT
My Blackity Black Blanket Library Drape will be featured—an expansive textile work exploring Black identity, protection, and cultural memory.

Sky Garden Studio Tour & Ecopark Walk
Date: June 19, 2025, 11am–2pm
Location: Sky Garden Gallery Retreat, Kingshill, St. Croix, USVI
Come experience where the magic happens. I’ll be hosting an intimate studio tour and a guided walk through the ecopark—sharing process, stories, and island-grown inspiration.

Fiberart International 2025
Dates: June 20 – August 30, 2025
Location: Brew House Arts, 711 S 21st St #210, Pittsburgh, PA
This juried exhibition celebrates innovation in contemporary fiber art—an honor to be included among such dynamic global voices.

MidAtlantic Fiber Association Conference: Emotional Baggage Cart Parade
Dates: June 26–29, 2025
Location: Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Details Here
My interactive Emotional Baggage Cart Parade installation will invite participants to name, confront, and ceremoniously discard emotional burdens.

Interpretations 2025
Dates: October 17, 2025 – January 10, 2026
Location: Visions Museum of Textile Art, 2825 Dewey Rd #100, San Diego, CA

If you’re near any of these locations, I would love to see you! Each exhibition is an invitation to engage, reflect, and participate in the stories woven into my work. Stay tuned for more details and behind-the-scenes updates.

With gratitude,
Theda

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Free Your Mind at The Future Belongs to the Loving

I’m honored and excited to share that my interactive installation Free Your Mind will be featured in the upcoming exhibition The Future Belongs to the Loving, on view from May 3 through July 31, 2025 at MAPSpace, located at 6 N Pearl St, 4th Floor, Port Chester, NY.

This show could not be more timely—or more necessary.

Opening Day is May 3rd, and it promises to be a vibrant, full-day celebration of collective creativity, healing, and resistance through the power of art. From morning coffee and community connection to workshops, performances, and living sculpture, the day will be brimming with opportunities to engage, reflect, and rejoice.

Exhibition + Opening Day Details:

May 3, 2025 | 🕚 11am – 7pm
MAPSpace, 6 N Pearl St 4th Floor, Port Chester, NY
Visit MAPSpace

Collaborative Events Schedule:

  • 11:00–11:30 AM – Coffee + Welcome Remarks
  • 11:30–12:30 PM – Sound Bath Workshop with Serena Buschi
  • 1:00–5:00 PM – Rotating Presentations with Theda Sandiford (that’s me!), Natlaya Khorover, and Michael Sylvan Robinson
  • 5:00 PM – Performance by Ms Muscle
  • 5:00–7:00 PM – Living Sculpture with Amy Keefer

About Free Your Mind

Free Your Mind invites viewers and participants alike to confront and release the weight of microaggressions—those subtle, often unintentional moments that carry very real emotional impact.

This piece provides a space of craftivist healing. Participants inscribe the microaggressions they’ve experienced on colorful ribbons, tying them onto the installation and quite literally freeing them from the confines of personal silence. As the work grows, it becomes an evolving, visible, communal record of disempowering interactions—open for reflection, conversation, and, ideally, transformation.

This work lives at the intersection of artivism and collective care, and I’m honored to share it alongside fellow artists who are also committed to joy, activism, and connection through creative expression.

The Future Belongs to the Loving asks: How do we create loving, resilient communities in a world that feels increasingly fragmented and fragile? I believe we begin by telling the truth, creating together, and holding space for each other—and that’s exactly what this show is about.

Come out, connect, and contribute. I can’t wait to see you there.

With love and intention,
Theda

Free Your Mind