Lawrence library exhibit turns book bans into handmade protest artwork

The children’s garments at Lawrence Public Library carried the argument into fabric, paper and fiber. Liza MacKinnon’s Banned Babies opened May 1 at 707 Vermont Street, placing eleven handmade pieces in the middle of a building that Lawrence residents already rely on for reading, access and civic life.

MacKinnon built the exhibit from banned books and paired the garments with photographs of historic book-burning events, a combination that made the threat of censorship feel immediate rather than abstract. The dresses and child-sized forms softened the debate in one sense and sharpened it in another: they suggested vulnerability and care, then confronted viewers with the reality of what gets targeted when communities argue over what children and adults should be allowed to read.

The Lawrence Art Guild said each garment was crafted from paper and fiber in spring 2026, with details embedded into the pieces, including Piggy’s glasses and a handmaiden’s noose. Those references gave the installation a literary and political edge without turning it into a lecture. The work asked visitors to look closely, then think about how quickly ideas can be policed when fear replaces curiosity.

MacKinnon said she wanted something that reflected current times while still inviting people to think rather than simply react. That approach fits the library setting. A public library is not a gallery separated from daily life, and it is not a forum reserved for specialists. Families, students and casual visitors pass through Lawrence Public Library every day, which gives the exhibit a reach that a formal panel discussion or op-ed page would never match.

The show also builds on MacKinnon’s earlier work at the same library. In 2021, she presented A Kansas Childhood, a display of 13 doll- and child-sized dresses made entirely from embroidered and painted Kansas maps. Where that earlier exhibit honored place and memory through maps, Banned Babies turns to warning, using clothing to show how censorship reaches into childhood, education and public culture.

The timing gives the exhibit added weight. The American Library Association said it tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second-highest total on record, along with 713 attempts to censor library materials and services, 487 of them targeting books. The group says Banned Books Week, usually held during the last week of September, is meant to celebrate the freedom to read and spotlight censorship past and present.

In Kansas, the issue is active on the ground as well. The Kansas Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee says its charge is to advocate for intellectual freedom, educate communities, support library workers and boards, and monitor censorship threats in Kansas. At Lawrence Public Library, Banned Babies turns that broader fight into something residents can stand in front of, study up close and carry out into the rest of Douglas County.