over two years after this piece came down from the site it was made for(16th&Mission BART plaza) I brought it back to the place where the original magic happened that inspired it, The Beacon Center at James Lick Elementary. Wish I brought a real camera to the install, but whatever. I’m stoked that these images of these girls working together will hang above the youth of tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. success.
together we can cross hot lava
My friend Rocky De Anda, of Galleria de Raza, recommended I propose a project to the Mission Cultural Council, so I did. I had been looking for a way to interact with the community and still produce my own work. So I offered my leadership facilitation skillz to a handful of after school programs around the mission. After working through trust, leadership, and self awareness games activities, I had the kids write or draw the things they valued and feared most in their lives. Promoting, organizing, and scheduling my renegade art-related leadership program proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Once I got the chance to run these sessions, I frequently found myself in a room of uninhibited kids 7-14 years old spazzing out on some of the more creative vulgar language I have ever heard. The best experience I had was with The Beacon after school program’s Power Eyes group. These girls had they’re group leader present and had a pre-existing foundation together. In the end I found the images of them working together to be the message I wanted to convey most so that’s how I ended up with this product. Now that I have one experience with community-engaged and public art project, I look forward to the chance of doing another with greater foresight. Check out the whole together we can cross hot lava! set of pictures on Drew Bennett’s Flickr
