PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Together with the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) and American Friends Service Committee, Groundswell youth explored alternatives to violence and peace promotion, in the process interviewing victims of gun violence and their families. With their stories as a starting point, and CLOTH’s building as a canvas, our mural team challenged itself to create a vision for a more peaceful future.
In the mural, a series of diverse figures representing individuals from the local Washington Heights community are connected by a long, beautiful cloth. The cloth is whole in some places, torn in others. By standing together, the figures take responsibility to mend the fabric and restore peace to their community.
Leveraging their work against gun violence, the dedication for this mural acted as the backdrop for a press conference against the recently proposed bill H.R. 822. This legislation threatens to overturn New York's concealed carry laws by allowing concealed carrying by people who cannot meet New York State standards. The coming together of these two events provided an opportunity for the community to amplify the youth artists’ voices against gun violence.
This project is made possible through the generous support of the American Friends Service Committee and Community League of the Heights. Major financial support for Groundswell's 2011 Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) is also contributed by Brooklyn Community Foundation, Catalog for Giving, Charles Lawrence Keith and Clara Miller Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, Edelman Community Investment, Eileen Fisher, Ethel and W. George Kennedy Family FoundationLambent Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation, in addition to numerous individuals.
CLOTH is grateful to Councilman Robert Jackson and Columbia University Medical Center for their support of this project. |
