Helen Hill and the Florestine Collection

These are images from the McKissick exhibition in 2008; the premier of the film at the 2011 Indie Grits Film Festival in Columbia, SC; the "Sewing Tent" at Crafty Feast which served to publicize the "Florestine Collection" film and the cemetery tea party on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

Helen Hill (May 9, 1970 - January 4, 2007) was an American animation filmmaker and social activist who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film she was working on, "The Florestine Collection", was finished by her husband.

The subject of the film was a collection of over 100 handmade dresses that Helen salvaged from a pile of rubbish. They had been hand stitched by Florestine Kinchen, an elderly American-American who lived near Helen in New Orleans. The film, the dresses, and Helen's family were all nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Helen was untimely murdered by a home invader before the completion of her project.