Welcome To The NeighborHOOD - Community Engagement in Bayview/Hunters Point, San Francisco

The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD project:
http://welcometotheneighborhood.us/
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Wendy Testu -Filming, Editing, Project Creator, Multimedia Artist
Monica Jensen - Photographer
Taylor Neaman Goudey - Lead Artist
Literacy For Environmental Justice - Community Partner

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This video is a behind the scenes look at the two year community engagement project by Wendy Testu. The Welcome To The NeighborHOOD project is a collaboration with several artists and youth from Literacy For Environmental Justice (LEJ).


This segment documents eight weeks where the artist, Taylor Neaman Goudey, worked with six youth from the non-profit Literacy For Environmental Justice in the Bayview / Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco. This video has been shown in gallery spaces as part of the installation of the actual art pieces; 'The Tented Shelter' and 'The Ladder Of Family Ties'. Visitors to these exhibitions were encouraged to create dialogue around their family ties, the environment and social justice issues as they sat under the 'The Tented Shelter' and added to 'The Ladder of Family Ties'.

Taylor and the youth explored topics such as how creativity can be used to look critically at mans effects on the environment, and how found objects and images can show the opposing forces of man vs. nature. The group started with a tour to take photos of Herons Head Park (where the EcoCenter, San Francisco's first %100 of-the-grid public building, is built next to the former Pacific Gas & Electric power plant. They also looked at slides of other artists work and discussed questions including: What are some signifiers of industry and nature? How do we create images that represent these opposing forces and what is our story?

The youth developed concepts for their images and learned how to manipulate them in Photoshop in order to create printable screens. Garments were scavenged from the streets, washed, and prepared for printing. They printed their first round of screens at Native Graphix Print House, a social enterprise of H.O.M.E.Y (Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth; a community-based anti-violence organization).

Soon this segment will be worked into a full length documentary film about the entire Welcome to The NeighborHOOD project. A documentary photo book is also available on line:

http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/1206220


Stay Tuned for more...

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This project has been made possible with the generous support from:
The San Francisco Arts Commission
The LEF Foundation
The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation
The San Francisco Foundations-Koshland Program
T-Mobile
Motorola
Literacy For Environmental Justice
The EcoCenter
The African American Arts And Culture Complex; Sargent Johnson Gallery
ART 94124 Gallery
Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum

And many generous volunteers

Thank you, each and every one of you

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For more information, please visit:

The Project: http://welcometotheneighborhood.us/

Literacy For Environmental Justice: http://www.lejyouth.org/

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• installation art
• San Francisco
• environmental justice
• documentary
• wendy testu
• welcome to the neighborhood
• The LEF Foundation
• The San Francisco Foundation
• ART 94124
• Zeum
• Monica Jensen
• taylor neaman goudey
• experimental video
• video art
• environmental art
• Bayview
• hunters point
• activism
• dan the automator nakamura