Folding Stories is a group of three suspended sculptures commissioned by the City of Houston and completed in 2022 by Ami Mehta, Sneha Bhavsar and Rakhee Jain Desai for the new $57M Alief Community Center. Inspired by Alief’s incredible journey to becoming one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the country, this piece honors it's rich legacy of strong female pioneers, resilient community leaders, and immigrant families full of aspiration. ​Taking a cue from the community’s namesake female postmaster in 1897, Alief Magee, we collected written letters from public schools, long-time residents, library patrons and civil servants. Various fabric facets in the sculptures were then patterned with hand-painted excerpts from these letters, memorializing words of wisdom directly from the Alief community. We then designed and hand-painted 30 modern interpretations of traditional motifs from cultures around the world. Lastly, through a collaboration with Connect Community, the panels were hand-embroidered by refugee and immigrant women training as sewists, living in and around the Alief area.