Civic Media and Social Practice Arts
Artist Statement
I’m a social practice artist and urban planner with a background in youth work and community organizing. My experiences growing in an immigrant household in an under-served neighborhood in Boston, MA are motivations for my work. Other inspirations come from the natural world, science fiction, fantasy and mythology and past and contemporary history. As such I am constantly exploring ways in which art, design and culture shapes urban and environmental landscapes, and vice versa, and, transformative tools and learning that drive social change. The mediums I practice in are poetry, prose, jewelry making, sketches and oil based paintings. In the past I have done video production and digital photography, which I have recently been re-engaging in.
The majority of my art projects are community-involved, collaborative in their design, involving working with youth, residents, teachers and community-based organizations, and thus are not traditionally exhibited. These investigative and outcome-oriented urban projects which incorporate the of various art forms from digital technology, photography, fashion design, community murals, to film projects and social justice themed music curating. Such projects include but are not limited to:
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Food Desert Mapping
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Placemaking Challenges
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Educational Board Games
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Transit Policy Advocacy
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Violence Prevention
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Community Cultural History
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Racial Justice
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Body Image Awareness through Fashion
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Anti-Substance Abuse Campaigns
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Education Empowerment
Exhibits and Shows
PT Barnum Entertainment & Tufts University Artist Alum Showcase
MOCA LA
2019
Under the Same Sky: Landscape Photography
Impact Hub Art Fest
2017, 2018
Under the Same Sky: Landscape Photography
On the Line, Spoke Gallery
2016
Poetry/Spoken Word
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1989 – present
Curator and Floor Manager, Youth Art Exhibit
The City School Closing Ceremony
2000
Visit my store
Check out my online shop for digital prints of my individual photography, paintings, beadwork, order courses, and more!
Below is a sampling of some my arts praxis and its many dimensions in painting, photography, beadworks, graphic design, experimental installations, film, writing and community engaged art processes. Contact me more information.
Community Engaged Art
From Fashion Design for Social Justice to Community Murals to co-designing and creating murals for neighborhood revitalization, most of my artistic practice is done with community. Here are some images that capture examples of my social practice arts.
Planning, Tactical Urbanism & Placekeeping
For over 15 years I have worked on community and public arts projects that provide both urban function and aesthetic. If not designing and producing directly, as an experienced organizer and planner, I faciliate the process between stakeholders such as residents, city officials and practitioners. Here are samples of different types of projects.
PhotoVoice as Community Planning and Engagement
As part of a citywide planning process, the city of Fresno engaged the Southwest community to address several brownfields. As part of the consultant team, I had the idea and led a PhotoVoice program with resident teens to vision the redevelopment of those sites.
Community-wide Creative Placekeeping
In 2015, I founded Mattapan Open Streets/Open Studios, launching the first Open Studios in Mattapan in the 30-year Boston Open Studios history. Because a barrier is the lack of arts spaces, I partner with local orgs and businesses to create pop-up art spaces around the neighborhood, and conduct various functional art projects. All activities are free and open to the public.
Cultural Branding and Public Health
As an organizer, I worked with community partners to negotiate with the city to remove banners of victims impacted by violence, and instead reframe and support de-stigmatizing the community by replacing them with artwork from a local artist. (Images from the City of Boston)
Community Powered Outreach, Transportation and Public Health
As part of a project to increase inner-city engagement on bike share, we hired local residents, trained them as ambassadors and as models for an ad campaign promoting bike share (June 2022).
Parklets and Building Buy-in
As a consultant to the City of Boston, I led the outreach and engagement with residents and business owners to generate interest and buy-in in the first-ever permanently installed parklet on Blue Hill Ave. I also worked with a local business which took on stewardship of the parklet.
Traveling Interactive Exhibit
To help engage residents in a major corridor redesign project, I led the team in the vision, design and execution of a pop-up exhibit to educate the public and interactively collect feedback. The project was put together in partnership with OverUnder and Design Museum Everywhere.
Civic Practice through Media Arts + Film
For over 15 years I have worked on community and public arts projects that provide both urban function and aesthetic. If not designing and producing directly, as an experienced organizer and planner, I faciliate the process between stakeholders such as residents, city officials and practitioners. Here are samples of different types of projects.
Lead and Manager: Mattapan Mapping Project
Project that pairs land use data with audio and video oral histories to document and inform advocacy to prevent negative neighborhood change. Providing the supervision and guidance, lead research and outreach.
Boston, MA, 2020 - present
Documentary site coordinator:
Provided guidance and coordination for on-site activities. Directed the videographer; captured B-roll footage; interviewed project the subject: Barbara Brandon Croft.
Boston, MA/ Washington DC, 2025
Co-Director: CBS Leadership Pipeline
Supervised the team coordinating a film training program developing short films for local nonprofit organizations.
Los Angeles; Paramount/ CBS Studios, 2022 – 2023.
Co-Producer: “Remix: For My People.”
Facilitated the partnership with PBS and Radical Media to produce special programming - a crowdsourced video poem reading. Coordinated digital directory and co-managed project components.
PBS American Portrait/ American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2021.
Project Coordinator. Youth Violence Prevention Video Campaign.
Supervised and advised a team of youth videographer. Served as a delegate to state capital meetings.
Youth Uprising, Oakland, CA. 2011
Youth Film Production
Provided youth development and leadership training through film. Taught workshops on camera handling, editing, exposition, story boarding, interviewing, and community engagement. mytown Inc. 2008 – 2010.
Project Manager and Co-Producer: “E-Inc” Youth Environmental Justice promotional video.
Organized a team of students in my environmental education program class to produce a promotional video on the topics they learned during the summer program. E-Inc, 2007
Youth-Led Cultural and Historical Walking Tours
In addition to video production, I taught high school students at mytown how to research and organize local cultural history walking tours. Created the MyDot Dorchester Youth Walking Tour which later included interactive media. 2007 – 2008. More information: http://www.mydorchester.org/node/6355
Creative Urban Interventions and Civic Hacks
Using art and design and organizing tactics in projects, I work with people and help them imagine their ideal community, take on different scenarios, learn tools and the built environment to gain leadership and problem-solving skills.
Examples: Boston Youth City Game with DS4SI; East Oakland Groundtruth Mapping; Community PlanIt; Mattapan Anti-Displacement Mapping Project
Coffee Cooperative and Fair Trade Documentary
I traveled and video-documented a learning exchange in Nicaragua focused on coffee cooperatives. I produced the footage into a documentary to frame stories around free trade policy, global economy, food justice and food security.
Project Management and Curatorial Experience
As a program and multimedia project producer, I have curated content, recruited artists, organized events and conducted research for a number of projects including program design and implementation. Contact me for more details on how I can help you execute the project and experience you are seeking.
Team member of a community advisory group that co-designed and co-curated the Boston's Apollo exhibit at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. 2020 - 2021
Was a featured artist in the On the Line exhibit at SPOKE Gallery, 2016
