Closing Celebration: Spring 2022 Projects by Urbano Project

Join us for a dual-celebration of Urbano’s Spring 2022 projects: “Calling Home,” a Community Art Project with Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Krystle Brown exploring housing justice in Boston in collaboration with community participants, and “Message From a Sidewalk,” a Youth Artist Project with AiR Ponnapa Prakkamakul investigating the boundaries of public space in collaboration with teen artists. Following an introductory presentation at the Egleston Square Public Library with food and drink, the artists and participants will lead walking tours of their projects and interactive art activities for all ages. Printed maps will also be available for self-guided tours.

 

ABOUT THE PROJECTS

Brown’s “Calling Home” project asks: How can democracy exist when people cannot afford housing? Since March 2022, Brown and the project’s nine participants have been learning about housing justice and the crises of housing insecurity, gentrification, and displacement in Boston, and exploring ways to voice the changes and challenges faced in their own neighborhoods and communities through auto-biographical storytelling. At the June 18 celebration, the group will present their collaborative installation at a defunct phone booth located at the intersection of Columbus Ave and Washington St in Egleston Square (approx. address: 1951 Columbus Ave). Passers-by can engage with the participants’ stories, both audio-recorded and written in Spanish and English, through a QR code or a physical “phone book” publication. The public is also invited to contribute their own stories with housing struggles via email (callinghomeproject@gmail.com) or by leaving a voicemail at (978) 219-4014. Through the sharing of these stories, the project aims to emphasize our common struggles with housing insecurity, spark community dialogue, and engender collective healing.

Since April 2022, teen artists in Ponnapa Prakkamakul’s “Message From a Sidewalk” Youth Artist Project have been investigating the boundaries of public space, and learning about street art, public art, social equity, play, and design. This project asks: how can street art act as a tool to raise awareness, inspire critical thinking, and create an inclusive space for everyone? In response, Youth Artists have designed and created a series of semi-permanent, participatory hopscotch games on the sidewalks surrounding the Egleston Square Public Library. The interventionist installation aims to express the student’s ideas of democracy and engage the Egleston Square community of all ages in conversations about democracy. At the June 18 celebration, Prakkamakul and Youth Artists will guide the public through the different games they have created.

Join us final celebration on Saturday, June 18 from 11AM – 1:30PM at Egleston Square Public Library (2044 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA). Following an introductory presentation at the library with food and drink, the artists and participants will lead walking tours of their projects and interactive art activities for all ages. Printed maps will also be available for self-guided tours.

Register: Here.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

 

Krystle Brown (b. 1989, she/her, they/them) is a multimedia artist based in Boston who explores the connections between family history, placemaking, class, and power structures. They hold a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Painting and Art History and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. While studying at SMFA at Tufts, Brown was awarded the Montague Travel grant to research in Northern Ireland and was awarded the Katherine Romero Graduating Student Award. In addition, Brown has received other grants and awards such as The Boston Opportunity Fund in 2021 and Best in Show-Silver Key at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in 2020. Brown has curated several exhibitions, including co-curating the Webster Court Project in Newton, MA. She has been an artist-in-residence at Lazuli Residency in Corinth, VT, 77 Art in Rutland, VT, and Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT. In 2019 they started the Emerging Artist Fellowship at Kingston Gallery in Boston and exhibited their first solo exhibition, “15,000 Days” in March of 2021 as a part of their tenure.

Ponnapa Prakkamakul is a visual artist and a landscape architect based in Massachusetts. As a third generation Chinese born in Thailand, relocating to Hong Kong then the United States, her work explores the relationship between humans and their environment focusing on cultural displacement and isolation issues among immigrants. Her public artwork aims to support the community in expressing their voices and to create artwork that truly represents their identity, cultivates a stronger sense of place. Ponnapa holds a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design where she received the Lowthorpe Fellowship Award upon graduation. Her work has also been exhibited, published, and collected throughout the US and in Asia. Ponnapa currently is a member at Kingston Gallery and a registered landscape architect at Sasaki.