Our group leader Katie gave an incredible speech at the mural presentation. There were undoubtedly tears in the audience and I felt so proud to be involved in something so amazing.
"Every year is unique and wonderful in its own way. This year, we were beyond fortunate to be embraced by the community of BRC. And they came with a high reputation to live up to! Everyone from Groundswell who had worked with BRC in the past couldn’t say enough about the wonderful summer we would have with the amazing residents and staff of 85 Lexington. It got to the point where I didn’t want to listen anymore because my hopes were too high. But high hopes were surpassed and never has the Voices Her’d project been so embraced as we were this summer. Every morning, the residents welcomed us in their rec room as we disrupted their morning news routines with our paint mixing, supplies transporting, daily check ins and paper work. Without complaint, Julio, Gavin and whoever else we could drag outside would tirelessly help us roll around, break down, build up, stabilize and repair our giant towers of scaffolding on wheels. The job of painting a mural this size takes a certain amount of patience and understanding with things like mess, noise, storage and other inconveniences. The BRC community welcomed the weight of a huge mural project with open arms.
"Each year when we choose a topic for Voices Her’d, we try to find one that resonates with populations of women both locally and globally. For the research component of the project, we look very specifically at statistics, interviews and other data that give us a deeper insight into the topic. What we found, when connecting the topics of health, education and poverty, was that the deeper we delved into the research, the more universal our imagery became. Struggles regarding health blended with issues of housing, education, immigration, etc., etc., etc. Broad topics of women’s physical health and economic status, were examined on a global as well as neighborhood by neighborhood scale led to considerations of self esteem and emotional health which led to conversations about relationships, and the most simple tool of survival- having someone who will listen to you and will speak to you honestly and out of love. So rather than have images arise that reflected most simply physical health, universal themes of struggle, solidarity, metamorphisis, hope and justice came from our drawings.
"When we paint these murals, sometimes there arises the question, What is the point? People can get 10,000 hits on youtube in two days. This is a quiet block. Your message can be spread on a computer screen without all this mess of sweat and sun and paint, dirt, scaffolding. Why even bother? And the point is this: People need to have a voice and they must be listened to- the residents, all of us in Voices Her’d, the people passing by on the street. Everyone has stories and a voice. The powers that be are famous for taking that voice away from those they find to be too much woman, too dark, too poor, too different, too opinionated...So you make them listen. You make them listen and know that the point is that young people think critically about the environment in which they live and still have the ability to approach their world not out of fear by simply lashing out at their community, but out of love(gesture towards mural)- love for this idea of fundamental freedoms. They have a voice that will liberate them from the notion that they will be spoonfed a prescription future. One that says because they grew up in a certain neighborhood, in a certain economic class, without college educated or English speaking parents that they are limited. That this should be their diagnosis and prescription. With communities of women coming together in solidarity to speak and listen, to work and to hope, the notion of prescription futures for our women and our young people must end.
"It is a lofty aspiration to try to tackle the issues of local and global health, poverty and education in one mural. It is doubtful that the federal government will look at our mural tomorrow and come to an agreement on a health care plan that simply meets the needs of all people. It is unlikely that the developers surrounding us, working as quickly as possible to make more and more (empty) luxury condos will see this mural and convert their units into something truly affordable for working people desperate for a suitable home. As if people there somehow deserve housing more than people here. But our hope is that when people see our mural, they will see that what connects us is far greater than what divides us. We all have our struggles and we hope to find our way out. Sometimes we are the one who is stuck, water rushing over us- but sometimes we are the one planting a seed for someone else to make a change. Sometimes we are the one who demands for ourselves a better education, a stable home and job that treats us with dignity. Sometimes we advocate those things for others. We have all been the stone, curled up, eyes closed. We have all been the hope- shining light on those in our sphere. We all seek moments of feeling like the bird- mobile and free.
"This mural has a very solid, physical location. This image stays here. But I hope that the image, and the story behind it also lives here (gesture to heart) always. So when we need to speak, we know our voices are valid, even when it feels as though no one is listening. And when someone needs us to listen, we do so without judgment and without fear. The image lives within us when we make limited plans for our futures and then challenge them- whose plans are those? I have my own ideas what I’d like to do with my life, for my community. The image lives inside us when we think about giving up on someone we love, but instead support their next chance. The mural stays with us when we challenge power. When we challenge wealth and broken systems that say these people deserve good schools, nice homes, good health care. These people do not. When we speak out, and when we listen to one another, the mural will live far beyond 85 Lexington.
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