Bushwick Is...2009

I was wandering around Bushwick today with a canvas, Sharpies, crayons, and a desire to see how folks would respond to "Bushwick Is..." Thomas Bell and I left Spread Art around 1pm with the canvas showing the boundaries of Bushwick way back when (1800s) and the boundaries of Bushwick today. We made a few stops (a pharmacy, a laundromat, a bodega) and received great input on our journey to Maria Hernandez Park (named after a woman who was shot and killed in 1989 for fighting to rid her block of drug dealers).

In the park we were overwhelmed with kids 
and also a lot of adults wanting to participate. Among them was a veteran (Iraq and Afghanistan), whose reflections on his experience returning to Bushwick, and the words he added to the canvas ("god forgive me can you") are unlikely to leave my mind anytime soon.

After the park we made our way to Brooklyn Fireproof to share the community dialogue that had happened so far and invite further participation. Brooklyn Fireproof was a location of today's BETA spaces event, described as "a one-day festival of independently curated, collaborative group exhibitions."

The "Bushwick Is..." canvas is part of an ongoing project begun in 2006 by Erin Partridge, Thomas Bell and myself. The project aims to facilitate community dialogue and self-reflection and to document moments in time as Bushwick experiences rapid gentrification.

I will add more to this post soon, but for the photos are going to have to speak for themselves as I'm in desperate need of a good night's sleep. See gobs of photos from today here.

 

Comments

[Erin]

Aw, that is ten zillion kinds of fabulous!
I miss you.
And, I need a mailing address for you.
lovelove

[Michael Pawlus]

Brilliant!