Triangle ArtWorks

CREATING AND DEFINING COMMUNITY THROUGH ART-

“A Community Portrait of Durham”

A Community Portrait of Durham (CPOD) is currently hanging in the Durham Arts Council’s newest exhibition People You May Know. You might have heard about the portrait already, maybe from a friend or in the local news. Something you might not realize – this portrait is part of an ongoing effort to answer the question “What is Durham?”  It’s an opportunity for Durhamites to share their stories, about themselves and about the community, and to bring Durham together in the process.

From Idea to Event

The idea for the portrait came from the documentary Waste Land. In the movie, New York-based Brazilian artist Vik Muniz worked with garbage sorters in the world’s largest dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Each day these workers picked out the recyclable materials from the dump and Muniz worked with them to transform these materials into works of art that told their stories.

In Durham, we’re fortunate to have the incredible creative reuse center the Scrap Exchange, which has just launched a capital campaign.   After seeing Waste Land, Chris Chinchar, a longtime Durham resident, and several others made the connection between the documentary and the Scrap’s new initiative, and called a meeting of Durham residents to see if there was interest in creating something similar to Muniz’s project.  The first meeting was open – a small group gathered to explore the question “What is Durham?” People shared their personal stories about the city, generating energy and excitement that was channeled into the mission of the project.

After this initial meeting, it was apparent that there was enthusiasm to create a community portrait. Sarah Bingham, one of the organizers, called it a “magic moment.” So, the group took a leap of faith.  With the artistic vision of environmental artist Bryant Holsenbeck and the leadership of Chinchar, they started envisioning “A Community Portrait of Durham” and with the goal of creating the “community portrait” in just a few short months.

On October 3, photographer Jeremy Lange was lifted in a cherry picker and captured around 300 people in a mosaic of the Durham city flag. A lot of planning, outreach and creative energy went into the October 3rd event and, as a result, we have a portrait that is uniquely Durham.  More importantly, it launched an ongoing effort to capture the stories of Durham and will hopefully motivate more people to contribute their voices.

Art’s role in community building

Recently, I sat down with several of the organizers to reflect on how far the project had come since that first July meeting and asked them to share some insight on organizing an ongoing community art project. This conversation included project organizers and participants Johnetta Ruth Alston, Sarah Bingham, Chris Chinchar, Suzanne Clark, Darius Goins and Beth Palmer. One key point these organizers stressed, was that this was A Community Portrait not The Community Portrait, an important distinction that calls for a response from more Durham citizens. Chinchar believes that although there are already multiple stories that are a part of CPOD, there is room for more stories to be woven in.

Johnetta Ruth Alston, executive director of JRuth, Inc., shared a random connection she made at the event.  “When we moved from the farmers market area down to the flag area, a man stopped to talk to me. He was homeless and needed a place to stay. He’s currently living at JRuth Manor”, a transitional home that Alston’s non-profit offers.

Rather than trying to define our city with a single image, the ongoing collection of stories will hopefully inspire people to share more stories and allow for small contributions from everyone. Beth Palmer reflected, “To me the beauty of this is that it’s a catalyst, it’s an ongoing conversation.” She added that the project could continue to grow and change – “Who do you know yourself to be that you didn’t know yourself to be before.”

Darius Goins was thinking along the same lines when he began participating in the project. Goins provided much of the video and photography of CPOD events, helping people share their stories and creating positive images of Durham, something that he views as important for Durham. “It’s out of balance. The media here portrays more of the negativity, crime and things like that, versus embracing the arts and positive events.”  Much of our conversation that morning at Scrap Exchange focused on this idea. Art can help us communicate, providing a space for the positive conversations that help us grow both as individuals and as a community. The starting point for CPOD involved an action that we can all take part in and then offered a platform for presenting ourselves as a community in dialogue.

Beginning in 2011, A Community Portrait of Durham will travel to venues throughout Durham and Chinchar and other CPOD participants are planning discussions to keep the conversation going. For more details about upcoming events, or to get involved, visit the CPOD blog or go to facebook.  For further reading on COPD, click here.

This article was written by Guest Blogger Jessica Moore.  Jessica recently became a Durhamite and is always looking for opportunities to talk about her new hometown

Have something to say of general interest to the Triangle Creative Community?  Want to contribute to this blog? Contact info@triangleartworks.org.

Copyright November 2010/Triangle ArtWorks, Inc.

Tags: "creative placemaking", artists, Community building, Community Portrait of Durham, Durham