Art as therapy in post-Katrina Louisiana
Does art inspire social change? We’d like to believe so.
ARTinACTION is non-profit organization running an artist-in-residence program for post-Katrina Louisiana, with the goal of using art to support the ongoing community rebuilding and healing efforts:
Believing the creative process to be a powerful tool for affecting social change and healing from trauma, the core mission of ARTinACTION is to participate in the physical and spiritual re/animation of post-disaster landscapes, beginning with our hometown New Orleans. Through this work, the artist’s role in a very challenging modern world expands and crisis becomes an opportunity for positive growth.
The artists create site-specific installations that require them to connect with the people of the post-disaster landscapes. The works are temporary and offered as a "gesture in the ‘in-between time’". So far it looks like 30 sites have been installed. Here are a two such projects:
"Field Guide" by Jacqueline Bishop
The artist painted the driveway of the Milne Boys’ Home with silhouettes of 5,000 black birds — from stencils that represent all 460 bird species native to Louisiana. One thing that really struck Bishop about the aftermath of Katrina was the deafening silence: no birds were around for days. "Field Guide" is designed to create a sense of migratory bird routes, projecting a shadow onto the pavement and symbolizing the need for diverse groups to come together and rebuild.
"I Miss My Neighbors" by Morgana King
From the artist’s statement: "I spent the year after the hurricane away from New Orleans and missed everything about my old life. When I finally did return, I was saddened by how much it had lost - especially the people who were missing. Many slogans have been made into T-shirts and yard signs promoting levee protection, or railing against FEMA, and I was always trying to come-up with my own phrase that would sum up my feelings living in this strange abandoned place. It came to me one day, and I think it sums up my local feelings about the specific people I miss on my street and addresses the city’s Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) inaction. I feel that this slogan is relevant to everyone in New Orleans. The slogan is: "I Miss My Neighbors". "
See more projects at the ARTinACTION site .
It’s important we have art outside of white box gallery spaces, and what better place than a post-disaster area where there are so many emotions and so much history?
Via Inhabitat
Comments
michael alford Aug 23, 2008 at 2:04 am
Check out a recent Site-specific sculpture I created on a recent visit to NOLA. It was inspired by the constant “can do” spirit of the community. It is in the heart of the city in City Park adjacent to the New Orleans Museum of Art. Enjoy
Elizabeth Underwood Sep 23, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Thanks for this promotion - it’s much appreciated.
I would only stress that “art outside of white box gallery spaces” doesn’t really change the hierarchy of such contexts unless the community is truly involved/engaged in the process of that art. ARTinACTION puts a lot of effort into gaining site permission, including residents/owners in the creative process, and cultivating intimacy between the artist & their desired site. In this way we actually rescript the artist’s role in a post-disaster community - hoping to replace dangerous cultural notions of “isolation/individulaism/and profit” with the experience of collective responsibility and free exchange. This is how we prevent exploitation of sites/communities and hopefully begin to replace the systems that result in things like the post-Katrina aftermath with more holistic, connective relationships.
It is our belief that artists cannot and should not assume that they’ve got “answers” for communities and that just because they think art is a good thing it doesn’t mean the people who live & work on-site agree. Hence the huge furor over the French Quarter’s Vieux Carré Commission rejecting the NOLA Arts Council funded & supported projects of 2 NOLA artists - the artists did not meet with the community prior to the granting process and so came across as arrogant & insensitive.
The impulse to reach out & help a hurting community is healthy & positive. One must always be vigilant, though, against perpetuating the same abuses that the disaster inflicted (things happening out of one’s control, for ex) and act with total respect for the people & site. This is how work becomes truly “site specific” and this is what we mean in our mission statement by saying, “We do not do favors for the site/community - it is always and only the other way around.”
Thanks again for supporting our progressive action!
Michael Edwards Oct 21, 2008 at 3:19 pm
This is fantastic. One thing that New Orleans has going for it, is the culture and art. NO has figured out how to capitalize on art and culture to drive the economy. In fact, the World Cultural Economic Forum is host to over 60 countries to address this very issue.
I would encourage everyone interested in the arts to attend the World Cultural Economic Forum Oct 30 - Nov 1, 2008.
The World Cultural Economic Forum (WCEF) takes place throughout Louisiana in October with three key components including a two-day Forum in New Orleans Oct. 30-31 for global cultural economy leaders to discuss best practices for growing cultural industries; a World Bazaar and Marketplace showcasing artisans and vendors from around the world in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Oct. 30-Nov. 1; and the Passport Events across the state throughout October showcasing all of Louisiana’s unique cultural assets.
Envisioned as a marketplace with arts and crafts that represent the sights, smells and sounds of a diverse community, the World Bazaar and Marketplace will feature artisans and vendors from around the world, where visitors can find unique and exotic keepsakes and fine arts. The World Bazaar will also provide an opportunity for participants to establish new markets worldwide by showcasing their cultural assets. This interactive Bazaar and Marketplace will feature an international children’s art exhibition, as well as an “international spotlights” stage that hosts various presentations. The World Bazaar and Marketplace will take place on Friday, October 30 and Saturday, November 1, 2008. To find out more about the World Bazaar and Marketplace, please call (504) 293-2617.
http://www.wcefculture.org