Community as a canvas

Sharp said that the participation has become an expectation in city regeneration and public art a way to achieve it. In year 1985 Artmakers in collaboration with Charas Inc. sent out a call to artists to create a multi-mural park on the walls surrounding a derelict community garden. La Lucha addressed five issues: local gentrification, frayed police/community relations, women’s rights, U.S. intervention in Central America, apartheid in South Africa and, by extension, racism in the United States.

I was thinking about an idea that each citizen would get 2x2 m white wall when he is born to write thoughts about the community he is living in. Would the wall change a lot through years? What kind of feelings would be portrayed? Today we have on-line portals where opinions can be expressed and compared. But still, can you imagine taking a hike to a nearest hill and watching from the distance the opinion of community. Would we care more?

*more information about La lucha mural park on http://artmakersnyc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=55