One Year Of Change

By Carleigh Foutch

kionawootonmillirons

70 likes kionawootonmillirons #grieving Day 16 Laundry

Laundry seems to be the only thing that I can focus on and accomplish. So I’ve done a lot of laundry. I went to the studios today for the first time. I only lasted two hours. Work seems too overwhelming right now. So I picked out aprons, rags and drop cloths to wash. I’ve always said how grateful I’ve been to be close to my cousins. We grew up together. Fawn and Maggie were six days apart and very close. Farris and I were the older sister and brother that would spy, torture and pester Fawn and Maggie. We all share similar childhood experiences (good and bad) which seems to have tied us together. We are all hurting so much but I’m thankful that we have each other. Cousins really are the best friends you could ever have. I feel like my voice has been yanked away today. I don’t have the energy to project my voice. But I also feel as if no one can hear me. I need to get me voice back because I need to scream as loud as I can about what happened to my sister. It is not ok. I need to fight for her. I feel so tiny ad helpless right ow. I hope my voice comes back...for Fawn. #justiceforamberfawnclark View all 13 comments

mandisue3810 I love you. I’m sending you all the love and light. kindtstevenmyers Sending you love and light. Nobody else’s timeline applies here. Just remember to breathe in and breathe out.

caroladams1509 Your voice will come back, loud and strong, for Fawn denisemccallister211 Sending you so much love and comfort and strength right now

December 27, 2018 One Year, Day 16, Kiona shares her story about dealing with her grief

An incredibly moving and timely conversation surrounding gun violence is coming to Oklahoma City University’s Nona Jean Hulsey gallery in 2021. One Year, a visualization of Kiona Millirons’ raw and personal experience with grief, may change the way we see and think about social media being a form of documentation, storytelling, and art.

A terrible tragedy befell Millirons and her family when her sister, Amber Clark, was shot and killed in 2018. said. “It began for myself, then for my family and close friends. Then I began hearing from others who knew my sister from all over the country. It created a connection that has become so important for my journey through grief. People told stories that I’d never heard, I saw photographs that I’d never seen, and I felt closer to my sister. Opening myself up publicly has opened the door for others to express their grief. I feel connected to people more than I ever have.”

While Millirons didn’t start her Instagram diary with the intention of it becoming art, it caught the eye of friend, OCU professor, and now One Year curator, Heather Lunsford. “In curating this show, I was reflecting on the intersection of art and social media—how those worlds interact and inform each other, and sometimes even overlap,” Lunsford said. “It really fascinated me because people use social media for social interaction, stress relief, and thinking about the world—things art also does.”

Millirons approached Lunsford with the notion of exploring the idea of an art show about gun violence and how it impacts both communities and individuals on a searingly visceral level. Working in tandem, Millirons and Lunsford selected 36 reconstructed Instagram posts from

kionawootonmillirons

kionawootonmillirons

One Year, Day 49, Amber “Fawn” Clark’s love of writing is shared

49 likes kionawootonmillirons #grieving Day 49 Words

This is Fawn’s typewritter. Fawn loved the written word. She lived in books as a kid and has always been an extraordinary writer. She was always who I asked for book recommendations. I was reading a book she recommended when we got the news. I haven’t been able to pick it up. I have been writing a little which isn’t something I normally do. I think I’m wiriting to try to figure out what has happened, why it happened and how it’s physically and mentally a ected me. Maybe Fawn is trying to help me. My cousin and I had a conversation tonight about “what would Fawn do”? She’d be su ering just like us. The Wooton girls are a highly sensitive, tender-hearted and emotional group that has walls of bricks and boulders holding it all in. #justiceforamberfawnclark View all 4 comments

January 28, 2019

86 likes kionawootonmillirons #grieving Day 181

Today, I #WearOrange for my sister, Amber Fawn Wooton-Clark. I wear orange for the nearly 100 Americans who die each & every day as a result of gun violence.

I also wear my sister’s ashes around my neck every day as a reminder to fight for her and all the other people who have lost their lives to senseless gun violence. Join me today at The Myriad Gardens for OKC Wear Orange Day at 10:00am. I’ll be walking from my oˆce to the gardens at 9:40am. #justiceforamberfawnclark View 9 comments

June 8, 2019 One Year, Day 181, Kiona advocates for her sister and others affected by gun violence

Millirons social media diary to put on display.

The result is a beautiful encapsulation of one year in a family’s life that, yes, documents a tragic situation, but ends up revealing so much more.

“My hope is that people will feel a connection to my sister, me, my family, and hopefully a connection to all victims of gun violence,” Millirons said. “I hope that people leave with a yearning to learn and understand the deep impacts gun violence has on each of us and then use this new understanding to use their voice to make change.” She goes on to say, “The pain of grief is lonely. This experience is lonely. Not because I am not surrounded by people who love and support me but because I am terrified that this trauma will go unnoticed just like all of the other tragic and senseless gun deaths that happen in our country. We choose to move on. We choose to forget. We think it doesn’t happen to us. NO ONE will ever NOT be affected by gun violence. And that makes me feel alone. This is too big for one person or one family.”

The national conversations surrounding gun violence have reached a fever pitch and left many activists and families alike reeling at the ease with which perpetrators are able to carry out violence against their loved ones. From groups like Moms Demand Action to the March For Our Lives movement, it’s clear that gun violence is something that affects everyone on levels we may not completely grasp, and Millirons hopes to change that.

“Gun laws in this country are extremely complicated. We have to be willing to educate ourselves. It is up to us as individuals to make changes. It is our moral

responsibility as human beings,” she said. “My sister died a violent death by a man who should have never had access to a gun. My government’s laws did not protect my sister or my family. The ripple effect will continue for a long time. Those ripples touch you in some way. Imagine all the ripples of all the victims of gun violence. We’re all connected by it whether we want to accept it or not.”

“You go to so many art shows...and people are kind of there to eat cheese and chat,” Lunsford said. “This is a show that you will start at point one, and you will chronologically read [the diary] as you go around the room. It really gives you kind of a snapshot of what she felt. Some of them are funny, some of them are sad, some of them are angry, and some of them are very passionate.”

The show will run from January 6 to February 19, 2021, pending any unforeseen coronavirus complications.

“This exhibition is about so much more than gun violence,” Millirons said. “This exhibition is about grief. This exhibition was planned before the COVID pandemic, and it seems we are all grieving right now. Grieving the loss of someone we loved, the loss of a job, the loss of ‘normality’, the loss of human connection. We need to openly talk about grief. And, hopefully, we can feel more connected through our shared grief.”

Lunsford agrees and hopes that One Year allows people to come to a common understanding.

“I think this will help us all have a really open, honest conversation about [gun violence]. Sometimes I feel like our conversations get so polarized, that we aren’t even having conversations anymore, and I think that’s what concerns me so much about our society as a whole, and especially in Oklahoma.” n

Carleigh Foutch is a writer and activist living in Oklahoma City. She received her BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and continues to write stories of all kinds in her spare time (although her favorite things to write are screenplays). To learn more about Carleigh and her work, visit carleighfoutch.weebly.com.

kionawootonmillirons Sacramento, California

77 likes kionawootonmillirons #grieving One year

I created this altar for Fawn alongside my students as they created their own altars for someone or something we wanted to honor. I surrounded my sister with things that she loved and were a bog part of her life: books, all her animals, poetry, flowers and bright colors. Today will be busy with dedications and a candlelight vigil. It will be a hard day. #justiceforamberfawnclark View all 16 comments

December 11, 2019

One Year, One Year, One year of remembering Amber Clark