Recipient of the Laundromat Project
2023 CREATE CHANGE ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
The Laundromat Project is an arts organization that advances artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. We make art and culture in community while fostering leadership among our neighbors through our celebrated Create Change artist development programs, and our creative community-building initiatives across New York City.
Its roots reach back to 1999, when The LP founder, Bed-Stuy resident Risë Wilson, left the corporate sector to build a life around art and community service.
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Established in 2006, Create Change is our flagship program. Through Residencies and Fellowships, we support artists and cultural producers interested in developing and deepening a collaborative, community-based, and socially-engaged creative practice. We also support the development of participatory and community-attuned creative projects by artists of color working within their communities.
"The Hatties" - a two-stage activation project to help a Bed-Stuy organization called Magnolia Tree Earth Center address issues of gentrification, historical erasure, climate education, and land stewardship through a grassroots artistic visual impact campaign (which included posters and zines) that honored the legacy of the founder of Magnolia Tree Earth Center. The project was developed alongside established artist, communicator, and consultant, Milagros Verendia, and M. Silin, a creative-laborer focused on working with representation of Black and Brown people, in collaboration with the Magnolia Tree Earth Center on a grassroots awareness campaign and fundraiser.
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Outcomes include 200 wheat-pasted posters all over Bed-Stuy, a suite of visual assets including a zine, posters, which were put on sale. All visual assets were donated to the Magnolia Tree Earth Center. Our activation booth also featured plant clippings as gifts and native plants for sale, donated by The George Street Butterfly Garden in Ridgewood, Brooklyn. We distributed the zine to local bookstores such as Mil Mundos and Blue Stockings. Zines were distributed to zine libraries and archives across the USA, such as Barnard Zine Library, Booklet Library, Hampshire College - Amherst, Watertown Free Public Library, Jacksonville Public Library and Brown University, Brown Recluse Oakland, California.
On Queerness & Race in Brazilian Art & Design Talk with Anna Parisi, Juan Pablo Rahal, and Silas Munro
Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, is “full of potential and imagination.” It is a land brimming with regional customs and traditions and multiple histories and encounters both clash and coalesce. This pair of lectures dig through layers of histories and representation in shifting how race and queerness are seen and understood. From “A Redenção de Cã” to the Enciclopédia Negra to the cultural figure of Marielle Franco, the myths of a racial democracy are unpacked and decolonized. We also look at the Manifesto Antropófago, the journal O Lampião da Esquina, and contemporary cuir artists who through sheer audacity and creativity have created new languages and ways of telling their stories.
Organizer: Ramon Tejada, Silas Munro and POLYMODE
Talk was organized as part of the series 'INCOMPLETE LATINX STORIES OF DISEÑO
GRÁFICO'
Link to class resources, click here
Assistant Curator of the group exhibition
“THE OTHER IS YOU: BROOKLYN QUEER PORTRAITURE”
“THE OTHER IS YOU: BROOKLYN QUEER PORTRAITURE” took place at BRIC Arts as part of the annual BRIC OPEN festival from April 24 - May 12, 2019. The portraiture exhibition featured the work by some 37 Brooklyn LGBTQ artists, displayed salon style at BRIC’s gallery. Curated by the textile artist Liz Collins and Anna Parisi, the exhibition features artists at varying stages in their careers and working with a wide array of media. The overarching theme, The Portrait is Political, alludes to the fact that all three exhibitions on view in the gallery focus on artists and subjects who represent marginalized, under-recognized communities in Brooklyn.
Curator: Liz Collins
Assistant Curator: Anna Parisi and Sol Nova
Artists: Marina Ancona, Leilah Babirye, Deborah Bright, Geoffrey Chadsey, Lia Clay, Gal Cohen, David Antonio Cruz, TM Davy, Leah DeVun, Mohammed Fayaz, Camilo Godoy, Naima Green, Cristóbal Guerra, Jonathan Grassi, John Jurayj, Doron Langberg, Joseph Liatela, Brittany Maldonado, Xavier McFarlin, Melody Melamed, Jeanine Oleson, Isaac Pool, Antonio Pulgarin, Amy Ritter, Gabriel Garcia Roman, Em Rooney, Michael Sharkey, Tony Whitfield, Jasmine Weber, Courtney Webster & Meg Turner, Kristine Woods, Zhiyuan Yang, and Res.
'Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha'
Street Art Intervention
Collaborating with artist and designer Marcel Serrano, our motivation stemmed from a deep dissatisfaction with the government's neglect of the streets, parks, and public spaces in Rio de Janeiro. Together, we initiated a public art intervention titled "Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha," which translates to "If These Streets Were Mine" in English and titles a popular children's lullaby. Our primary question was simple: What actions would you take if these streets belonged to you? We embarked on this endeavor at dawn, choosing the intersection of Rua General Urquiza and Ataúlfo de Paiva in the Leblon neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro as our canvas. Using biodegradable ink, we adorned the streets with an invitation to engage, creating lines with ample space for individuals to jot down their thoughts and emotions. Anyone willing to participate was welcome to take a seat and grab a piece of the scattered chalk, allowing them to express their aspirations for a better city.
The project rendered thoughts, inspirations and hopes that went beyond what people wanted for the city. It was a healing experience of love and collaboration.
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Collaborators: Marcel Serrano, Estúdio Híbrido, Ímã Mobilizadores and #NARua collective
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