The mission of The Village of Arts and Humanities is to support the voices and aspirations of the community through providing opportunities for self-expression rooted in art and culture. The Village inspires people to be agents of positive change through programs that encompass arts and culture, engage youth, revitalize community, preserve heritage and respect the environment. Our legacy is anchored in artist-facilitated community building. More than 40 years ago, Arthur Hall erected the Black Humanitarian Center near the corner of 10th and Lehigh in North Central Philadelphia (now The Village’s main programming building). For Arthur Hall, creating space for people in the neighborhood to read, dance, sing and make music, was a crucial part of each resident learning and celebrating the community’s culture and heritage. Twenty years later, artist Lily Yeh continued growing spaces in the neighborhood, in the same spirit of communal care and compassion. For Lily, the beautification of physical space catalyzed positive mental and emotional shifts in the way that residents viewed their own lives and the health of their neighborhood. Using social art practice, both Arthur and Lily—the Village’s first artists in residence—in collaboration with Big Man, Jo Jo, H. German Wilson and so many other influential figures, encouraged people to believe in, and help build a more beautiful and just future for themselves and their families. SPACES is an artist in residence program at the Village of Arts and Humanities that brings community members together with artists from around the world to create arts-based solutions to community challenges. Visit us at spaces.villagearts.org SPACES International AIR has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Village of Arts and Humanities 2544 Germantown Ave Philadelphia, PA 19133 215-225-7830 villagearts.org
The process-oriented project is based in North Central Philadelphia and explores relationality through procedures grouped into two categories—open mic and 2512 Sessions. 2512 Sessions is a monthly series of film screenings and artist talks dedicated to exchanging ideas and sharing experiences. Invited participants—artists, entertainers, musicians, designers, etc—give talks or presentations on or about their practice in the intimate space of my apartment (the visiting artist’s residence). The open mic series is a monthly event created with the ethos of fostering communality through music, comedy, dance and poetry while exploring the potentials for collaboration amongst its diverse participants mainly from the Fairhill Hartranft community in North Central Philadelphia.
connections between ideas, processes, procedures and locations which are or have been relevant to the project. It also becomes a temporary “exhibition” and collaboration site where members of the general public may come in and intervene in our processes either by taking down a photograph from the walls, or by actively working with us in their own capacity to develop ideas through video, photography, graphic design, etc. Our spectators potentially become collaborators. This open studio structure aligns with our strategy to democratize the making and experience of art. Furthermore, we upload the videos, audios and photos from the open mic events and provide a downloadable link for our publics to continue collaborating and remixing the content accumulated from the sessions online.
Moments from these live events are documented in the form of video, sound and photography and set up in the studio. The studio functions as a postproduction site where our collective—comprising myself, Aaron Sawyer, Tiyanna Scott, Jacquan Fields, and Tamia Garcia (all of whom are artists based in North Philadelphia) manipulate the forms accumulated from the monthly events in physical space. Aaron is a lens-based media artist who specializes in photography and video. Jacquan, a professional, award-winning clown, offers his event management skills to the team. Tamia and Tiyanna are best friends who share a common passion in music and drawing; together they managed the open mic events, designed and executed paintings in the studio. The studio becomes the environment that maps out the implicit
I adopted the relational strategies as a way of mitigating the effect of my foreignness to the neighborhood to build, not just interactive but, meaningful relationships upon which the progress of the project would depend and to confront some of the barriers which may impede our initial engagements. The poetry, dance, music, discursive sessions create multi-layered communication channels which open up the fields of interaction between us (the core team members) and our potential collaborators. We, the collective, and the instigators of this kind of social interaction, rely on our audiences—especially for the open mic events—to own and, to an extent, determine the content produced. We go as far as planning the event and allow the rest to happen.
Among the objects in the studio are 4” x 6” photographic prints of images and texts, 32” flatscreen monitor, portable music players, headphones, speakers, and found bricks collected from around North Philadelphia. One wall could loosely be described as a wall of memories. It is animated with a constellation of digital 4” x 6” photographic prints which montage the different moments produced by the relational procedures. Each photo at one and the same time constructs its own slice or fragment of the broader narrative and also functions as a memento—evidence of the ephemeral moments produced over the course of the residency. Its life is then extended by making that section of the studio interactive with the spectator/collaborator. The spectator/collaborator is free to unpin a photo from the wall and take it with them—be it a portrait of themselves, a friend’s or simply out of desire to do so. In exchange they leave a signature where the photographic object used to hang. The other walls in the studio elucidate the thought processes which went into designing two site-specific structures to activate one of the vacant lots in the neighborhood.
ARTIST TALKS, OPEN MICS,
AND FILM SCREENINGS
THE NARRATIVE The social fabric is constantly under pressure in our community from various social and economic forces. We envisioned a process to begin to ‘patch’ these ‘ruptures’ by activating dormant vacant lots and spaces in the community and creating in them spaces of communal creativity and expression. These spaces will be the ‘patches’ with which we will begin to repair the rips in the social fabric. To realize this, we asked ourselves four questions. WHY BUILD ANYTHING? Building has historically been a communal enterprise. It is a way for friends, family, neighbors and the community at large to come together to realize something. It is a way to activate the social dynamics of the community and it compels people in the community to participate. The final work is something people could behold as that which is achieved together. We therefore believed we could use the process of building to galvanize the collective forces of the neighborhood. The second reason for building is to produce a physical and tangible expression of an idea. It is a way to take abstract thoughts and make them tangible. Doing this helps to reinforce the ideas being promoted such as communality, unity, building together etc. through the hands-on practice of realizing a physical representation of ideas.
THE ‘X’ STRUCTURE
WHAT TO BUILD? Our idea for activating the dormant lots in our neighborhood involved creating just enough of a spark and then encourage the neighborhood to take over the process. While we would have liked to create several built projects on several lots, we had to stay sensitive to time and budgetary constraints. We therefore concluded on building elements that satisfied the following criteria: Transparency: to ensure participants were at ease when interacting with the structure. Visual connection between spaces: so as to reinforce the themes of community, openness, shared experiences. Adaptability: the structural elements can be easily disassembled and rearranged in other configurations to suit other purposes. Parts can also be taken and assembled on other lots to facilitate their activation as well Mobility: in order to make dismantling, storage and reassembly easier. The form was inspired by the ‘X’ symbol used by utilities companies in Philadelphia to indicate a block where utilities had been cut off. The elements came from ‘dismantling the ‘X’ and hopefully starting a process to reattach a community cut off from the rest of society. The assemblage looks like it is in a state of disrepair and incompletion which reflects the neighborhood in many ways. Participants can help build it and suggest and implement ways to ‘complete’ the structure. The structure requires their active participation to complete just like the community. WHERE TO BUILD In choosing a site to begin our activation process, we decided to start with the vacant lot at 10th and Cumberland. This location was ideal because it was on a bus route, was in close proximity to Fairhill apartments (which has a high number of residents) and to Germantown Avenue, a major thoroughfare. HOW TO BUILD To build the structure, we want to harness the communal involvement that was historically essential for the completion of any building project. The aim is to galvanize the collective forces of the community. This will be achieved through passing out fliers, word-of-mouth and engaging in the building process in public so as to be seen by neighbors. We will also pass out refreshments, play music and create a lively and fun atmosphere that attracts people. The building process will also be a good teaching opportunity for students at The Village to get introduced to the construction process. KOFI AKAKPO Project Designer Kofi Akakpo is a designer, writer and poet who currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. He studied architecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana between 2004 to 2008. He left to work with Joe Ossae-Addo, principal architect at Constructs LLC, where he was greatly influenced by the “inno-native” approach to design before moving to the United States. Kofi has worked on architectural projects in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Finland and the United States. He has also worked as a contrabuting writer for Bleacher Report and as a freelance designer and architectural visualizer. Kofi is currently enrolled at the Knowlton School of Architecture at the Ohio State University. He is currently working on a project that explores how spaces can retain their unique cultural identity in an increasingly multicultural world. Note: This structural component of the project was not realized in physical form.
The second structural installation proposal of this project would involve building a brick wall on the vacant lot at Cumberland and 10th. The steps will be as follows: 1. Build a wall by galvanizing people in the neighborhood to come together. 2. Organize creative activities around the wall. 3. Encourage people to ‘scar’ the wall with their messages of frustration, happiness, anxiety, poetry, etc. 4. Break down the wall. BUILDING A WALL Why A Wall
We came up with the idea of the wall from our regular meetings with neighbourhood collaborators where the desire was expressed to have a communal space. It did not need to be a building. After further discussions we settled on the idea of the wall. We also played with the idea that people in the neighborhood could say “let’s go to the wall” when they needed a place to meet to address their issues and vent their frustrations. The wall could therefore be both symbolic and utilitarian.
THE WALL
How The Wall Will Be Built Historically, the process of building has been a communal one. Our process is to interact with people in the neighborhood and engage their help in building this communal wall. It is important to note that getting people to come together and build is the main aim of the project and not necessarily what is built. The bricks for the wall are going to be sourced from demolished and collapsed buildings in the neighborhood. These bricks hold the memories of the families that lived in those houses before. The wall therefore becomes a “wall of memories”. As one neighborhood artist described it, the process was symbolic of trying to build the neighborhood back up. We will have a professional engineer or builder on site at all times. The process will also involve music and food, to help create a fun and inviting atmosphere during the building process for all who are involved. ORGANIZING ACTIVITIES AT THE WALL In addition to being a canvas for artistic expression by neighborhood artists, the wall can also host a variety of activities. The wall can facilitate a stage for performances. It will be used to host some of the open mic events currently held at Ile Ife park in North Philadelphia further helping to extend the buffer The Village provides in the neighborhood. It can also hold artistic installations that can be displayed to the neighborhood. The wall is designed as a separator, but we can flip that relationship and make it a place of privacy, a place where we can all speak candidly about the state of our community and discuss ways to change it. SCARRING THE WALL The act of scarring the wall is important as a means of establishing the wall as a symbol of oppression and as a divider. Neighborhood residents will be invited to write, scribble, paint, draw, spray or express in any form they wish all the things that frustrate them, all the things they wish to get rid of, all the baggage they want to unload. THE WALL HAS TO BE STRONG, MADE OF MASONRY SO IT CAN CARRY THE WEIGHT OF ALL THESE. The wall, at the end of the residency, may be broken down by the collaborators... Note: “The hood grows walls” is a metaphor borrowed from Village founding artist James “Big Man” Maxton. The extrapolation of the metaphor manifested through the site-specific component of the project and recorded audio conversations about notions of “the hood” with interlocutors from various parts of the city Philadelphia.
The wall is rigid, formulaic, programmed. The wall is not pretty, fancy, intricate It is a somber reminder of the realities in which we find ourselves The wall is familiar The wall is what you can handle The wall is not intimidating It is a divider, a separator, a barrier. You are either on the right side of it or on the wrong side. There is no in-between The wall is 6 feet tall. Only a few can see over it The wall is safe The wall blends in The wall cannot easily be destroyed Its parts will not be pilfered at night The wall can facilitate a stage The wall can be private or public The wall is a canvas A surface on which to scar your frustrations, your anger, your aggression, your grief. Don’t worry, the wall can take it all The wall is self-reinforcing The more the wall is resisted, the more powerful it becomes. The wall is relevant for our time It is a metaphor of our times, our world, our city, our hood The hood grows walls KOFI AKAKPO
THE HOOD GROWS WALLS
Our initial intention was to design an art piece that can facilitate several communal activities, is adaptable and mobile. In one of the several artist talks organized at Kwasi’s (the artist’s) residence, one participant made a comment about creating art for effect and not simply art to make commentary. But art has never had an effect that didn’t make commentary so the goal should be to have an effect while making commentary. That is precisely what we decided to do.
TIYANNA SCOTT PAINTINGS
“We keep those trapped in our internal colonies, our national sacrifice zones, invisible.” 1
THE POLITICS OF RELATIONALIT Y
Part I: A Historical and Theoretical Discussion of the Project The genealogy of community—or site-oriented art in the United States can be traced to the 1960s as a consequence of a series of paradigm shifts beginning from when art was literalized as a form of critiquing medium-specific assumptions of high modernism—shifting focus from the surface of the medium to the museum space, from institutional frames to discursive networks, filtered through socio-political movements such as feminism, civil rights, et al—marking a cultural turn.2 This turn was hinged on the assumption that the site of artistic and political transformation had moved from the galleries and museums into communities marginalized by the dominant culture: senior citizens groups, women’s groups, African American communities, LGBTQ societies, Hispanic communities, and so on. “Culture in Action”, an exhibition project directed by Mary Jane Jacob in 1993 in Chicago, typified this political rhetoric of democratizing art (a value advanced by European Constructivists and Dadaists earlier in the twentieth century) in what would eventually be termed by Susanne Lacy as ‘new genre public art’.3 The cultural other in the United States had become the subject of community-oriented art and in whose name the committed artist, so called, contests the capitalist status quo or institutions of art—galleries, museums, the academy, the market, etc. By this time site-specificity had evolved from an inseparable relationship between art object and physical environment to a conceptual one unhinged from its intrinsic reliance on literal space. When a dialectical prescription was proposed in the 1930’s by Walter Benjamin to “operative” artists charging them to palpably take a position within the means of production (which to Benjamin is the site where inequality is produced) thereby massifying the means to construct alternative imaginations to the bourgeois status quo, the caveat was that it was a revolutionary struggle being “fought between capitalism and the proletariat.”4 Benjamin further expresses a cautionary note that “to supply a production apparatus without trying, within the limits of the possible, to change it, is a highly disputable activity even when the material supplied appears to be of a revolutionary nature. For we are confronted with the fact […] that the bourgeois apparatus of production and publication is capable of assimilating, indeed of propagating, an astonishing amount of revolutionary themes without ever seriously putting into question its own continued existence or that of the class which owns it.”5 Regarding the revolutionary struggle, I found an interesting equivocation by Benjamin to place an idea (capitalism) in antagonism to a personage (the proletariat). This may have been his way of buttressing the vulgarity of the problem. For who invents these ideas and/ or implements them in the first place? But he was drawing attention to the disparity between a soulless economic system whose set of assumptions and imperatives, thriving on scarcity and exploitation, work to the detriment of helpless individuals. In this way, if it is not done away with or altered radically it can only offer what its logical outworking compels it to in the pursuit of profit accumulation and power. Sixty odd years after Benjamin’s call, Hal Foster’s seminal essay, published in The Return of the Real (1996), juxtaposes the former’s ‘Author as Producer’ model (which reads its subject in terms of economic relations) to a contemporary model termed by Foster as ‘The Artist as Ethnographer’ which reads its subject in terms of cultural identity. Foster demonstrates that both paradigms share three common assumptions: Firstly, that the site of political transformation is the same as that of artistic transformation. Secondly, that this site is always located within the field of the other (be they the exploited underclass or marginalized communities). Thirdly that if the artists in question are perceived of as other themselves, they then possesses automatic access to this transformative power which is essentialized as belonging in the field of the other—in the one instance, people of color, in the other, poor people. Foster goes on to make the point that the inclinations of the artists in this epoch (the ethnographic) runs the tendency of committing the abominable sin termed by Benjamin as “ideological patronage” by performing their critique solely on the basis of cultural identity and not, as well, on economic affairs. Because these artists are concerned with the politics of alterity, their critique is therefore done through an ethnographic lens—anthropology becomes their choice discipline as it is the discipline of social science which concerns itself with the study of culture.6 A recent example could be cited with Dutch artist, Renzo Martens’s reflexive documentary “Episode 3: Enjoy Poverty”—where he critically exposes this tendency on the part of the artist as well as his audience—in which he attempts to use art as a tool for capital accumulation: as a way of making the poor class in that part of Congo also benefit monetarily from their condition of poverty (through photography) as were the media, mining, humanitarian and other corporations operating in the region. karî’kạchä seid’ou, philosopher and lecturer at the College of Art at KNUST in Ghana, analyzes it in this way: “In Martens’ estimation, politically engaged art today typically changes the way artists and audiences talk about exploitation and inequalities and so forth by showing work to elite audiences while being indifferent to the work’s position within the exploitative processes of production and spectating.”7 The only people who do not benefit from poverty are the poor people themselves. ————— I am of the opinion that the Benjaminian imperative still holds relevant for many of today’s pseudo-ethnographer artists who mostly manage their projects in communities plagued by conditions created by global corporate capitalism. Not only must these artists be sensitive to identitarian politics of difference and human rights but they must also to come to terms with the material causes of the exploitative systems which lead to the extremely narrow concentration of economic power which create these communities as “places of intervention”.
—Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco
This kind of interaction with the said communities may be in collaboration with an art/cultural institution based in those communities or elsewhere. This often triangulates the dynamic between artist, institution and community. Here, both the artist and the institution claim to be acting in solidarity with the disempowered community they are in relation with. Even though these two entities may sometimes exist in tension—the artist and the institution—they are not necessarily in conflict in this context since they both profess to have the same objective which is intervening in the socio-economic struggle on the side of the oppressed. But this also means that they are both prone to the tendency seid’ou talks of as “being indifferent to the work’s position within the exploitative processes of production and spectating” however well-intentioned they may have set out initially. I will discuss some of the problems in this structure in part two of this essay.8
Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh is an artist who lives and works in Kumasi, Ghana. www.iubeezy.wordpress.com
The ominous tendency of narcissism in such a practice cannot be taken for granted by the artist and ought to be mitigated in order not to mimic the distance which determines the position of the underclass from the capitalist in the first place. A heightened sense of awareness of this tendency would be needed for any critical engagement of the situation. This also rings true for the cultural institution or organization which claims political allegiance to these marginalized groups.9 For it is this tendency that Benjamin warns against in “Author as Producer”. On this, Arundhati Roy paints a severe picture of the complicity of what she calls corporate-endowed NGOs in the cultural sector: “[NGOs] have waded into the world, turning potential revolutionaries into salaried activists, funding artists, intellectuals, and filmmakers, gently luring them away from radical confrontation, ushering them in the direction of multiculturalism, gender equity, community development—the discourse couched in the language of identity politics and human rights.”10 The rise of NGOs within neoliberal corporate globalization as an apparatus of co-option attests to the resilience of capitalism as an economic and political system which is able to subsume all other sectors of social life. Here, Roy echoes Benjamin’s caution against the modes in which oligarchic elites inoculate themselves, through the apparatuses they set up, against any dissent or counter-perspective. In short, my point is that the institution which seeks to intervene in this problem is very much, like the artist, in danger of being tamed, defanged and assimilated back into the status quo without posing any real subversive threat to it. When we locate the production of inequality solely in the arena of the cultural we are led to think that the way to resolve it is by asserting and securing our [human] rights. The oppressor can guarantee equal rights to the oppressed and still manage to exploit them in other ways. Chris Hedges states it more clearly when he writes of the victory of the civil rights movement in the United States that “[It] was a legal victory, not an economic one. And the economic barriers remain rigid and impenetrable for the bottom two-thirds of African-Americans whose lives today are worse than when [Dr. Martin Luther] King marched in Selma. The violence of overt segregation ended. The violence of poverty remains. Wealth was never redistributed.”11 Post-apartheid South Africa shares a similar narrative of not seeing through a policy of wealth redistribution. The violence of poverty remains. Legal reformations have been won but economic hurdles are yet to be scaled as gallantly. Wealth must be efficiently redistributed. Community-oriented art and its practitioners today cannot afford to think while sequestered in the symbolic solutions art offers to capitalism’s poverty industries. We cannot afford to think it idle to take into account the role of which the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF and the World Bank) have played in perpetuating obscene poverty through structural adjustment programs in so-called third world nations by “arm-twisting” governments to conform to neoliberal economic policies such as deregulation and “Privatization of Everything” — state-owned resources and industries from the sectors of military, health, financial, communications, etc. Corporate globalization makes it nearly impossible to speak of an ‘over there’ or ‘right here’ with respect to exploitation. It [neo]colonizes indiscriminately. And so in effect, if Philadelphia, for example, with a 26.3 percentage of people living in poverty12 and an estimated population of 1,567,442 as of July, 2015,13 finds itself in a poverty crisis, it can be said to outweigh that of Iraq’s 25% whose estimated population was 37,056,169 as at July 201514 in terms of population density.15 What they have in common is in the fact that both entities, Philadelphia and Iraq, could be considered to be colonies of Empire; the former internal, the latter external. Poverty is fundamentally designed and remains a condition to be profited from. In a world plagued by violence, mass surveillance, control and obscene inequality, North Philadelphia becomes a case in point and, in my case, a site of intervention based on the assumptions of the SPACES Artist-in-Residency initiative at The Village of Arts and Humanities. According to Paul Glover, “[p] overty is one of Philadelphia’s major industries. Tens of thousands of jobs— public and private—depend on managing poverty” in this post-industrial city.16 Its manufacturing industry has declined over the past thirty years to see a boom in the service/hospitality industry. “The Village [of Arts and Humanities] sits at the intersection of three police districts and two council districts. In recent years, every single high school in the neighborhood has been closed. Eighty-six percent of our area’s households have incomes below the poverty line. We are bordered by an ever-growing higher education institution, corporate conglomerates, and the rapid gentrification of neighborhoods in lower North Philadelphia. These realities surmount to tremendous socio-economic challenges for our community.”17 This is the socio-economic context for my residency at The Village and the conditions that inform the decisions made in my communitybased project here in North Philadelphia. KWASI OHENE-AYEH
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
1.
Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction: Days of Revolt, 2012, Nation Books, pp 65 2. See “The Return of the Real”, Chapter 6: The Artist as Ethnographer by Hal Foster, Cambridge, Mass : MIT Press, c1996. 3. See Miwon Kwon, One Place after Another: Site-Specific and Locational Identity, MIT Press, 2002. 4. Walter Benjamin, The Author as Producer, Verso, 1998, pp. 103 5. Benjamin ibid, pp. 93-4. Benjamin critiques Activism and New Objectivity movements of his time stating that “I wish to single out two of these movements, Activism and New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit), in order to show by their example that political commitment, however revolutionary it may seem, functions in a counterrevolutionary way so long as the writer experiences his solidarity with the proletariat only in the mind and not as producer.” pp. 91 6. See “The Return of the Real”, Chapter 6: The Artist as Ethnographer by Hal Foster, Cambridge, Mass : MIT Press, c1996. 7. Renzo Martens: Tretiakov in Congo?, kąrî’kạchä seid’ou and Jelle Bouwhuis in conversation 8. See https://iubeezy.wordpress.com/iub-projects-2/2016-2/the-village/ 9. See this article headlined “Resilience is Futile: How Well-Meaning Nonprofits Perpetuate Poverty.” http://jezebel.com/resilience-is-futile-how-well-meaningnonprofits-perpe-1716461384 10. See Arundhati Roy, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, Haymarket Books, 2014, pp. 34. Roy contextualizes the phenomenon of NGOs as an apparatus of control in corporate globalization by stating: “As the IMF enforced structural adjustment and arm-twisted governments into cutting back on public spending on health, education, child care, development, the NGOs moved in. The Privatization of Everything has also meant the NGO-ization of Everything. As jobs and livelihoods disappeared, NGOs have become an important source of employment, even for those who see them for what they are. And they are certainly not all bad. Of the millions of NGOs, some do remarkable, radical work, and it would be a travesty to tar all NGOs with the same brush. However, the corporate or foundation-endowed NGOs
11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
are global finance’s way of buying into resistance movements, literally as shareholders buy shares in companies, and then try to control them from within. They sit like nodes on the central nervous system, the pathways along which global finance flows. They work like transmitters, receivers, shock absorbers, alert to every impulse, careful never to annoy the governments of their host countries.” ibid, pp. 33. Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction: Days of Revolt, 2012, Nation Books, pp 65 Black Work Matters: Race, Poverty and the Future of Work in Philadelphia, http:// powerinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Black-Work-Matters-Report. pdf, pp. 6 http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/4260000,00 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iz.html http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=69 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philadelphias-poverty-industry_ us_5762bf8ae4b07d4d0a41c855 The Village of Arts and Humanities briefing packet for SPACES: 2015 International Artist-in-residence initiative. In addition, the United States has five percent of the world’s population and twenty five percent of its prisoners — it incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country on the planet. The People’s Paper Co-op — a social entrepreneurship and legal advocacy project based in North Philadelphia which works with artists, lawyers, activists and community members — summarizes the situation as such: “In the United States, there are more than 70 million people with criminal records (more than the entire population of France). People of color are arrested at alarmingly higher rates than their white counterparts and African Americans are more likely to be arrested than any other racial group. In Philadelphia, where we work, African Americans are stopped, frisked, and arrested at higher rates than any other group, and 1 of every 5 residents has a criminal record. These records create obstacles to employment, housing, education, healthcare, and social mobility, while stigmatizing and shackling people to their past. While upwards of 700,000 U.S. prisoners are released each year, nearly 70% of them will end up back in the system within 3 years.” - http://peoplespaperco-op.weebly.com/about.html.
Aaron Sawyer is digging deeper into his artistic practice since he joined the Supa Future Studio collective. Aaron is a self-taught photographer and videographer. He learned his craft collaborating for many years with his friend, Jaquan Fields, who is a professional clown and entertainer. “Quan is my muse,” Aaron says with a smile.
“I’m trying to get everybody in their own light. I am responding to the energy and strong performance moments.” For Aaron, the fresh idea is the work of the Supa Future Studio Collective. The process encourages inquiry and discovery as they rework the documentation of each event in the post-production process. “We are all adding something of ourselves to create,” says Aaron. The members of the collective expand their foundational understanding of their work by attending museums, artist talks and performances. Aaron is a sponge out in the world, soaking in information, history, art criticism, culture, and language. He is constantly looking, framing, and questioning. Aaron says, “Kwasi helps me think—he gives me another way to think about my work.”
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
AARON SAWYER
Aaron wanted to work with Kwasi, so he introduced himself and shared his portfolio. Impressed, Kwasi invited Aaron to join the project as the photographer. He has documented all the events and featured artists.
Donnie Cottman was 10 years old when he discovered YouTube. “I fell in love with making videos, entertaining people, making money.”
DANILO COTTMAN
Donnie has been involved in The Village in many different capacities since then. He’s been a student, an employee and now a collaborating artist with Kwasi’s project. Donnie didn’t know what to make of Kwasi. “I thought he was kinda weird— more kind than people here.” But in Kwasi, Donnie found someone who shared the same interests.
“I started coming to his house day after day. We talked about movies, video games, Ghana, Kensington.” Donnie videotapes the open mic events, then works with Kwasi in the studio in post-production. Donnie says he has learned much from Kwasi’s insights and feedback. “He [Kwasi] showed me things about my own work that I didn’t see before.”
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
He started paying attention to movies, directors and actors. He desperately wanted to learn how to make videos but his mom didn’t have the money for cameras. So he looked for schools that teach video and found The Village of Arts and Humanities, just five blocks from him home.
ETHAN MINTZ
Ethan says it’s a great opportunity for students because recording live performance is much more unpredictable than studio recording. The postproduction takes many hours. Ethan is impressed how Kwasi is becoming part of a Philadelphia community. And he interested in Kwasi’s behind-the-scenes approach to the open mic events and documentation.
“He is a curator. He collects, reflects in a candid process. It feels free form.”
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Ethan Mintz is the Co-Owner and Founder of Marsten House Recording studio, in North Philadelphia. Ethan coordinates the recording and sound mix for each open mic. The professional studio uses the events to train the studio’s interns techniques in recording live performances.
EVA BRYANT
Eva has had a front seat to the changing landscapes and personalities at The Village.
“I see much! I know what it is really like here!� Eva lives on the same block as Kwasi. She took it upon herself to show him around and acclimate him to the neighborhood. Kwasi consistently engaged her as collaborator seeking her advice often as he developed his project, benefitting from her knowledge and experience.
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Eva Bryant has contributed her energy and creativity to The Village for 25 years. Eva is a retired herbalist, naturopathic doctor and small business owner. She is also a gemologist, jewelry designer and ceramicist.
JACQUAN “QUANY THE CLOWN” HASHEEN FIELDS
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Jaquan Fields—also known as Quany the Clown — is a multitalented family entertainer who has performed over 2000 shows in the circus arts. Jaquan began his theater training at the Village of Arts and Humanities in the youth theater and dance program. Since then, Jaquan has studied at the Mid-Atlantic Clown Association, The New York Goofs, the American Clown Academy and from Kevyn Terrill Johnson (former UniverSoul Circus Clown). Jaquan is also an accomplished graphic designer and photographer who has created the graphics for the Village Open Mics. Quany performs as emcee for the Village Open Mics and helps to curate talent for the events.
KOFI AKAKPO
“We are both interested in how people interact in space,” Kofi explains. For the project exploring communality through relational procedures (open mics, artist talks, film screenings), Kofi helped Kwasi brainstorm ideas to visually represent the live performances and spontaneous interactions of the open mics and artist talks. Kofi conceptualized the structural component of the project: he designed and animated two site-specific structures in which the audience could participate in the making. Kofi lives in Ohio, where he is preparing for graduate school. He says working with Kwasi inspires his ideas about architecture and using art to bring community together.
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Kofi Akakpo is a visiting advisor and project designer for Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh’s SPACES project. Kofi and Kwasi met eight years ago while in college at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. They have been friends and collaborators ever since.
KWASI OHENE-AYEH
Photo by Heidi Roland
COLLABORATORS
Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh is an artist based in Kumasi, Ghana. He articulates his ideas through writing, installation, site-specific and curatorial projects. Ohene-Ayeh is a member of the “Supa Future Studio� Collective who is implementing a series of relational strategies in North Philadelphia to instigate new methods of artistic collaborations.
NIÉM “GRANDSON” GILMORE
“You gotta tell a story, you gotta paint a picture.” Grandson has lived in The Village since he was a child. His uncle, James “Big Man” Maxton, was a master mosaic artist and he worked closely with the founder of The Village, Lily Yeh. Grandson began helping his uncle at 8-yearsold. “It kept me out of trouble,” he says. Grandson’s improvised raps are filled with local characters, shared stories and humor. When Grandson takes the mic, the audience is spellbound. His raps receive raucous applause, shouts and whistles. The enthusiastic response to his performances has encouraged Grandson to think more seriously about his music.
“I’m starting to see myself as an artist.” Grandson is grateful to Kwasi for initiating the open mic series. “It’s a platform to get to know people and learn about their talent,” says Grandson. “It be like new faces all the time. Kwasi came and put it together.”
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Niém Gilmore, a.k.a. Grandson, is the storyteller of The Village. He improvises his tales with a mic in his hand. He rhymes about his life, his friends and experiences.
MICHAEL WILLIAMS AKA MIKE RAW
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Michael Williams A.K.A Mike Raw is a 19 year old rapper from North Philadelphia. “Music helps me express myself in ways I cannot explain,” he says. His music talks about his experiences in life, especially the people he has lost who were was close to him. Music is his way of life.
Shaheed is a local entrepreneur who has contributed to the project through his deep knowledge of North Philadelphia and network of people in the neighborhood. He mainly developed methods by which the team could reach out to people in the neighborhood inviting them to the open mic events.
2 Box of plain Macaroni 3 cans of Great Value chunk Chicken breast 1 Jar of Hellman’s Mayo 2 Jars of Relish - Heinz 2 Green peppers 2 Onions 1 dozen eggs 1. Boil water for mac noodles 2. Boil eggs 3. Cut up green peppers and onions 4. Chop up chicken breast in the can 5. Cut up the eggs When done pour mac into aluminum pan mix in chopped chicken breast, onions, and green peppers. Then mix in your mayo then mix in your Relish. Then it should be complete. Mix and serve.
RICE SIDES SURPRISE 2 bags of Rice Sides 1 pack of Turkey Kielbasa You can use 1 bag of frozen corn or fresh corn or broccoli SautĂŠ Turkey Kielbasa while rice is cooking. When rice is done add Turkey Kielbasa and corn or broccoli. Mix and serve.
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
SHAHEED AKA JIGS
MACARONI CHICKEN SALAD
Taíon Carter is a chef who has collaborated with Kwasi throughout the project. Taíon is actively involved in “2512 Sessions” – the monthly discursive artist talk and film screening events at Kwasi’s house. Taíon enhances the convivial sessions by designing the moments and interactions through the dinners he cooks.
CAULIFLOWER STEAKS WITH SPINACH & TOMATOES 1 Cauliflower 2 cups Spinach 1 Tomato salt & pepper (to taste) ½ cup balsamic vinaigrette 1 tbsp minced garlic 1. Preheat oven to 375 2. Largely dice tomato then add a light pinch of salt & pepper (sit to side)
TAION CARTER
4. Put cauliflower in oven for 15 minutes 5. Put 2 tbsp of oil, minced garlic, and spinach in a saucepan. Cook for 3 minutes. 6. Put spinach on a plate followed by the cauliflower. Drizzle balsamic. 7. Turn off fire and add tomatoes in saucepan. Until desired. 8. Place tomatoes around the edge and drizzle balsamic again.
PAN SEARED FILET MIGNON OVER LEMON PARSLEY RICE WITH SAUTEED SHRIMP 1 Filet Mignon 1 cup jasmine rice 3 Jumbo Shrimp 2 Florets of broccoli 2 Asparagus ¼ Red Pepper 1 Slice yellow zucchini Blueberry Balsamic Reduction (vinaigrette) 1. Boil rice on low heat for 20 minutes. Once done shut off. 2. Melt butter in a saucepan then sautee with minced garlic and a pinch of salt. 3. Use only the tips of the asparagus and sautee all of the veggies in oil on a medium heat, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until flimsy. 4. Add a heavy pinch of salt and squeeze a lime and a pinch of parsley into the rice, then mix. 5. Put filet in a mixing bowl and add oil in saucepan on medium heat. 6. Preheat oven to 375 7. Once saucepan is smoking, add filet. 8. Once the bottom of the meat begins to turn brown, flip filet into a pan and put it in the oven for 18 minutes (medium rare) 22 minutes (medium rare) 9. Put rice in an oiled mold onto the plate and watch the rest come together. Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
3. Slice cauliflower, try to get whole pieces
TAMIA GARCIA
The collective experience was outside Tamia’s comfort zone, but she is becoming more comfortable around all kinds of people. “Working with Kwasi has helped my communication skills.” As a shy person, she values the supportive community at the open mic events, where all the performers receive applause and attention. Tamia has helped create that safe space to share music and art. Tamia listens to lots of music, but cites Kehlani, Jhené Aiko and Tank as important influences on her music. Tamia is also a reader and recommends books by Nicholas Sparks and the Bluford Series. When asked to share a lyric that resonated with her, Tamia chose the national motto from her homeland Trinidad and Tobago:
“Together we aspire, together we achieve.”
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Tamia Garcia never felt comfortable talking to people. “I shut down [around people],” she says. Then last summer Tamia and her best friend, Tiyanna Scott, performed in an open mic at Ife Ife Park, beginning what would become an open, confidence-building and creative conversation with Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh and the relational project. Tamia and Tiyanna returned to help produce the open mics as well as perform in them. They both joined the Supa Future Studio Collective, becoming collaborators on Kwasi’s project.
Tiyanna Scott is surprised to find herself in a place where her creative impulses are appreciated. As a member of the Supa Future Studio Collective, Tiyanna works creatively everyday in the studio. And she continues to create outside of her “day job” as an artist.
TIYANNA SCOTT
“I never thought I’d get paid just for painting pages, people doubt me cause my age, but I’m doing great. Mama think I’m chasing Satan but I be praying Lord don’t let this stress break me, this bread change me.” Even though Tiyanna is feeling empowered to claim the ‘artist’ title, she does not take that title for granted. She works hard and is committed to the collective. Kwasi has become an important mentor. Loyal, energetic and playful, Tiyanna has embarked on her artistic career, propelled by the opportunities created through Kwasi’s Residency.
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
COLLABORATORS
Tiyanna writes lyrics on her cellphone during a night out with friends. She sings in a car or in the shower. She doodles in the margins of any available document, repurposing it for her ideas and imagination.
MORE COLLABORATORS
SUPA FUTURE STUDIO COLLECTIVE
Agudos Clef Emyne Jovie Jaffa Reginald “Reggie Butta” Johnson Ahmed Mueed Diego Romero Joi Ross Ghazi “Zeek” Smith The Urban Shamans SPECIAL THANKS Nandi and Khalid Muhammed Micheal O’Bryan Marangeli Mejia Rabell Marsten House Recording Studio
Photo by Lori Waselchuk