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Cut & Paste: ‘Stitching the city together,’ St. Louis youth process gun violence through art

Susan Colangelo, left, co-founded Saint Louis Story Stitchers. Twenty-year-old Ameara Burns, right, joined the artists collective as a teenager to help her process experiences with gun violence.
Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Susan Colangelo, left, co-founded Saint Louis Story Stitchers. Twenty-year-old Ameara Burns, right, joined the artists collective as a teenager to help her process experiences with gun violence.
Susan Colangelo, left, co-founded Saint Louis Story Stitchers. Twenty-year-old Ameara Burns, right, joined the artists collective as a teenager to help her process experiences with gun violence.
Credit Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Susan Colangelo, left, co-founded Saint Louis Story Stitchers. Twenty-year-old Ameara Burns, right, joined the artists collective as a teenager to help her process experiences with gun violence.

In Emeara Burns’ north St. Louis neighborhood, gun violence is a way of life.

People in her area have grown used to the sound of gunshots, Burns said. But repetition doesn’t make it less traumatic. To work through the stress, the 20-year-old graphic design student writes poetry and performs hip-hop with an artists’ collective called Saint Louis Story Stitchers, co-founded by Susan Colangelo.  The group is exhibiting photographs and video of its performances at The Sheldon through April 21.

In our latest Cut & Paste podcast, we talk with Burns and Colangelo about the organization.

“It's a metaphor for healing our city,” Colangelo said. “We're stitching our city together.”

Look for new Cut & Paste (#cutpastestl) podcastsevery few weeks on our website. You can also find all previous podcasts focusing on a diverse collection of visual and performing artists, and subscribe to Cut & Paste through this link.

The podcast is sponsored by JEMA Architects, Planners and Designers.

Follow Nancy on Twitter: @NancyFowlerSTL

Please help St. Louis Public Radio find creative people to feature on Cut & Paste. Tell us which artists and cultural drivers deserve a closer look.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Nancy is a veteran journalist whose career spans television, radio, print and online media. Her passions include the arts and social justice, and she particularly delights in the stories of people living and working in that intersection.