Art Project Invites Philadelphians To Share Personal Problems Ahead of Pope's Visit
By Suzanne Monaghan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- People visited Dilworth Park today, on the edge of City Hall, to contribute to a piece of public art that will be on display in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul during Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia in September.
It's called "Mary: Undoer of Knots Grotto," and is designed to draw attention to the hardships that many people face.
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For the artwork, passersby are invited to anonymously write a personal struggle on a strip of cloth and knot it to a wire rack. Then, someone else unknots the cloth and weaves it into a frame containing additional strips that others have written.
What struggles were people writing about?
"Missing my brother," admitted one woman. "He's halfway across the country. Just worried about him finding his way."
Artist Meg Saligman (below) is the director of the project.
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"I didn't expect to be so moved by it," Saligman acknowledged today. "And I didn't expect how willingly people, even private people, are giving us their struggles. They might tie it up in a lot of knots and run away from it real quickly, but they're willing to share it and they're willing to have someone else open it."
You can also submit a struggle online at mercyandjustice.org.