Last Call

Stephanie Benenson, immersive installation artist

Sarah Connell Sanders

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

POW! WOW! Worcester’s first event of the summer will kick off on Friday, June 4 at 8:15 p.m. outside the Kids Club in Great Brook Valley. Artist Stephanie Benenson of Harbor Voices Public Art spent the 2020-2021 school year working alongside Burncoat Middle School students on this artwork, titled “Not Alone.”

The installation explores mental health and the teen experience. Students conducted and recorded interviews with peers, community members, and local nonprofit organizations like the Shine Initiative to understand the importance of mental health awareness, particularly during the past year when cases of depression and anxiety among their age group have skyrocketed due to the pandemic.

What is the philosophy behind Harbor Voices?

It’s a hybrid nonprofit combining art education and public art. One of the most important things to the work is the people who are involved — people who are interviewing others or are interviewing each other or are the interviewees — all manage to connect to one another through shared experiences. The project that we’re working on right now explores this idea that teens felt isolation and anxiety associated with the pandemic. Through this artistic and creative process, students are discovering that there are others who are facing similar obstacles and they have found a networking community of support.

Can you describe your background as an artist?

I grew up on the north shore of Massachusetts and my grandfather and my father were both painters. I was raised in a community of artists and I started as a painter and printmaker for many years, then found that my painting started to become more abstract. I began gravitating towards immersive light and sound experiences. That’s when I decided to go to the Rhode Island School of Design and get my master’s in newgenre public art where community engagement is at the core of the creative process.

I feel very lucky that my students have been able to benefit from your expertise. What can people anticipate if they come to our event on Friday or Saturday?

I think that people can anticipate some really remarkable moments of authentic storytelling and authentic sharing. One of the things that makes me so proud of the students involved in this process is the fact that they were all able to really connect deeply to their own personal experiences, but also to the experiences of their peers and their family members. They also formed connections with the Shine Initiative constituents that they interviewed during our artistic process. As one of the storytellers in the installation says, we are emerging now, excited about the possibility of living in a post-pandemic world, but there’s also a lot of healing and a lot of trauma associated with that, and most people are still processing. One of the things I expect to see is that this will be another step in our healing journey and people will have an opportunity to sit back and process what this year meant to them and meant for their families. We are helping to break down stigma associated with mental health. I think that the students were all so keen on the message that, “You’re not alone.” The more we talk about it and the more people gather together to support each other, the better off we’ll all be.

Could you share a success story from a past installation?

The first installation that Harbor Voices did was with students at Gloucester High School. The project revolved around immigration storytelling into Gloucester Harbor, which spans centuries. And so, we were connecting these century old immigration stories of people talking about their great-great-grandparents in conjunction with students who had just arrived, or had families that were just establishing themselves in this country. There was one student after the installation who published an article in the school newspaper titled, “Diversity Breeds Success.” The bullet points in his article were about how much stronger his soccer team is and how much better off their school is because they have such a global representation. He expressed that the recent immigrants to Gloucester had brought so much success to their athletic program and that he was proud to be a part of it. That is an example of how an installation is just the beginning of the conversation.

Do you have any advice for first-time Harbor Voice attendees visiting the installation in Great Brook Valley this weekend?

The lights are put in the installation to help encourage deep listening. Sometimes in an art exhibition, if there are a lot of people around, you might not hear all of the sentiments that are expressed in the exhibition. I hope that everyone takes some time to sit through the installation and really listen deeply, listen to the words and the stories that are shared, because I think they’re just so remarkable and the work that Worcester’s students did is incredible.

Stephanie Benenson SUBMITTED PHOTO