Fishoff, Pleul, Piovenzano, Schiff, anu Smith

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The Community Canvas: An Exploiation of Ait Activism in South Cential Los Angeles
By: }enna Fishoff, }ulia Pleul, Lauien Piovenzano, Saiah Schiff, anu Imani Smith


As we embaikeu on oui ieseaich, we hau a cleai question in minu: Bow uoes
ait function as activism in the community of South Cential Los Angeles. Focusing
the lens of oui pioject on anu aiounu ait - a topic that we'ie all passionate about
anu exciteu by - ieally alloweu us to hone in on a place of peisonal inteiest while
simultaneously uiscoveiing anu leaining about a community that was new to many
of us. 0ui intent was to leain anu to expeiience ait's function within the community
thiough the eyes of those who ueem cieative expiession a cential pait of life. In
spite of oui specific focus, an essential element in oui inquiiy pioject was to ieflect
on anu leain about the community at laige, as well.
While South Cential Los Angeles is negatively poitiayeu in the meuia, with
the Los Angeles times noting that, "Foi yeais, the teim 'South Cential Los Angeles'
has been a cultuial tiiggei, shoithanu foi the city's most intiactable social ills: uiugs,
gang violence, anu poveity" (LA Times, 2uu9), we expeiienceu a veiy uiffeient siue
of the neighboihoou. While we'ie not uenying the fact that uiug use anu violence
exists in the community, we feel as though it's impoitant to be waiy of
geneializations because we expeiienceu a veiy pleasant anu welcoming siue of
South Cential anu finu it uisappointing that a vast aiea of Los Angeles can be
ueemeu unsafe oi unwelcoming by people who make theii piesuppositions baseu
entiiely on biaseu meuia poitiayals. We spent the majoiity of oui time in Leimeit
Paik, which was "oiiginally built in the 192us as a white miuule-class planneu
community.|that,j like many othei neighboihoous in L.A. post-WWII, expeiienceu
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what scholais uesciibe as 'white flight' - when the pievalence of automobiles
combineu with the outlawing of iacial covenants piompteu many iesiuents to 'flee'
to the newly uevelopeu subuibs" (KCET, 2u1S). These uays, Leimeit Paik seems to
be a veiy aitistic community, which only fuitheis oui beliefs that these sweeping
geneializations of South Cential Los Angeles aie haimful anu, quite fiankly, untiue.
0ui Community Inquiiy Pioject leu us on what we'ie inteipieting as the beginning
of a jouiney of uiscoveiy - about activism, social justice, unfamiliai communities,
anu ultimately, ouiselves anu oui iole as "insiuei-outsiueis."
Thioughout the couise of oui pioject, we sought out muials locateu in South
Cential Los Angeles, took a guiueu toui of Leimeit Paik, visiteu neighboihoou shops,
attenueu an ait walk, anu engageu in incieuibly enlightening uialogue with
membeis of the community. The fiist of these uiscussions was a totally chance
encountei with two men on veimont Avenue. 0ui gioup was aumiiing a beautiful
muial when a woman came up anu saiu, "That's Teiiy's auntie." anu then
embaikeu on a whiilwinu account of the piece's histoiy. She abiuptly stoppeu what
she was saying, walkeu into the stieet, waveu uown a vehicle, anu exclaimeu, "0h,
look. Beie he is!" Two men got out of the cai while the woman we fiist spoke to got
into the cai anu uiove away. It's safe to say we all likely woulu have been in a state
of uisbelief hau we hau the oppoitunity to iesponu, but it happeneu so fast, anu
befoie we coulu ieally piocess what was going on, we weie iecoiuing oui
conveisation with Teiiy anu }ason. The woman in the muial was inueeu Teiiy's
aunt anu, while the painting was completeu befoie hei ueath, he explaineu that the
piece now acts as a memoiiam. Teiiy saiu, "Ny auntie.they put hei pictuie up on
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the wall because she knew the whole neighboihoou. She giew up ovei heie, she
knew eveiybouy, she was ieally known by eveiybouy - that's why they put the
muial up. We uiun't know she was going to pass, but it's something special to have
hei up theie." Be continueu by explaining his aunt's iole in the community, "She
always came to the libiaiy. Basically, all she wanteu to uo was help.She was the
kinuest peison evei. That's why they put hei poitiait on the wall because she was a
goou peison with a goou heait." This conveisation ieally uiove home what oui
gioup hau expeiienceu thioughout the couise of oui Community Inquiiy Pioject
thus fai anu ieally soliuifieu oui iueas that ait was often useu to memoiialize
impoitant membeis of the community. Teiiy's fiienu, }ason, was also kinu enough
to have a uiscussion with us, uuiing which he shaieu that he was a stieet aitist. We
askeu him to comment on the muial we hau been aumiiing anu he noteu, "uiaffiti
comes in a lot of uiffeient ways. If it weien't foi just the little tag then this aitist
woulun't be able to uo this. Be staiteu fiom that little tag.It staits off just as
uoouling anu you get into it anu you make a poitiait - it's a puzzle anu then it's like,
whoa." We felt incieuibly lucky to iun into these two men anu foi theii willingness
to so openly uiscuss theii peisonal histoiies anu expeiiences with us.
The seconu uiscussion we'ie highlighting in this papei is with Reveienu
Eziokwu in a small upstaiis office at the WeCan Founuation. The six of us gatheieu
aiounu in a ciicle anu embaikeu on an almost-two houi uiscussion about things
ianging fiom life to ait to his peisonal histoiy. We founu the conveisation incieuibly
enlightening anu jokeu aftei that it was a theiapeutic expeiience foi us all. While the
Reveienu pioviueu us with witty quips about life, which we all took to heait in some
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foim oi anothei, his commentaiy on the nation's youth was peihaps the most
impactful. Be poseu the question, "Bow aie you teaching the youth. You neeu to be
what you can be anu we have the iesouices to help you be what you can be" anu
then emphasizeu the impoitance of compassion anu love - a coineistone of the
Teachei Euucation Piogiam - by saying, "If you show that you caie, that you'ie
caiing.intellect has no coloi, knowleuge has no coloi, but the iesouices that aie
going to help you leain.now that is veiy coloiful." We walkeu away fiom oui time
spent with him exciteu anu inspiieu to moie ueeply involve ouiselves in the
community anu use the iesouices we hau gatheieu to take fuithei action.
As afoiementioneu, oui piimaiy focus in this pioject was to uiscovei how ait
functions as activism in the community of South Cential Los Angeles. We went into
the pioject with a sense of unueistanuing that theie was a social stigma attacheu to
"stieet ait" anu "giaffiti," which we can only speculate was uue in pait to the fact
that it has tiauitionally been associateu with vanualism anu gang activity. We
uiscoveieu, howevei, that stieet ait can be iespectfully caiiieu out anu can be useu
in any numbei of ways by community membeis to expiess themselves anu theii
beliefs. As Naitin Iivine wiites in "The Woik on the Stieet: Stieet Ait anu visual
Cultuie," "A stieet woik can be an inteivention, a collaboiation, a commentaiy, a
uialogic ciitique, an inuiviuual oi collective manifesto, an asseition of existence,
aesthetic theiapy foi the uysaesthetics of uiban contiolleu, commeicializeu
visibility, anu a Whitmanian hymn with the iaw eneigy of pent-up uemociatic
uesiies foi expiession of self-asseition" (2u12, p. S). Be fuithei noteu that, "Nany
aitists associateu with the 'uiban ait movement' uon't see themselves as 'stieet' oi
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'giaffiti' aitist, but as aitists who consiuei the city theii necessaiy woiking
enviionment" (2u12, p. 1). This concept of using one's own city oi community as a
canvas to ieach out anu stait a uialogue is one of many incieuibly poweiful anu
moving aspects of ait useu as activism.
Though theie aie unuoubteuly people who uon't follow the unwiitten iules
oi guiuelines of iespect that }ason biiefly spoke about uuiing his inteiview with us,
such people's actions shoulun't uiscount the haiu woik anu passion of those aitists
who aie genuinely tiying to iaise social awaieness oi expiess a genuine emotion oi
thought. Pamela Castio, foi example, is a feminist giaffiti aitist who uses hei woik
to euucate people about uomestic abuse. She was quoteu in an aiticle as saying,
"Since it's a stieet ait, giaffiti is able to ieach eveiyone anu can piovoke positive
social change. We use it to go into communities anu talk to othei women about
genuei issues, uomestic violence, psychological violence, anu so much moie. If we
weie just to invite an attoiney to come talk about the Naiia ua Penha Law |which
seeks to cuib uomestic violence against women,j it woulun't have the same appeal
anu a lot of women woulun't even show up" (0liveiia, 2uu9). In utilizing hei giaffiti
to geneiate thought anu conveisation about a social injustice that she has iuentifieu
in hei enviionment, Pamela encouiages ciitical uialogue suiiounuing euucation,
activism, anu pievention. Bei mention of the accessibility of stieet ait aiticulates
the aigument often maue by stieet aitists anu activists alike that "it is iaie that
people uo not ielate to some foim of cultuie anu cieativity. It has the capacity to
appioach anu engage people otheiwise alienateu fiom typical civic activity anu
community oiganization youth, the pooi, people of coloi that aie most
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maiginalizeu fiom foimal spheies of politics, law, anu euucation" (Lambeit anu
Buncombe, 2u11). We saw this engagement as we attempteu to uecoue some of the
messages behinu the giaffiti we boie witness to on oui walk aiounu South Cential
Los Angeles. Nany of the woiks we obseiveu uiew on images of people (both living
anu ueau) anu ielevant cultuial symbols anu phiases as seeming entiy points foi its
auuience to unueistanu anu iesponu. While we cannot know the specific intent of an
aitist without talking uiiectly to him oi hei, it seems as though most attempteu to
make theii messages accessible anu to incite an emotional iesponse.
The muials anu giaffiti we saw gave the impiession that they weie
puiposefully ciafteu with a veiy specific intent. Foi many pieces, we weie able to
gathei a sense of puipose fiom the incluueu insciiptions piofessing that it was in
loving memoiy oi in ueuication to something oi someone. Foi otheis, the phiases
accompanying the pictuies of heavy oi sombei faces uemonstiateu a call to action. A
few of the woiks we obseiveu utilizeu chains to seemingly signify a uenieu iight oi a
wiong that was being peipetuateu in the community oi gieatei society. As
afoiementioneu, we cannot know the uefinitive intent of the aitists, howevei theie
weie uefinitely clues anu guiuing elements thioughout the pieces to aiu outsiueis,
such as ouiselves, as well as community onlookeis, in ielating to anu taking a
message away fiom the ait.
While we ultimately ueciueu that ait acts piimaiily as a means to
memoiialize loveu ones anu to iaise awaieness of social injustice, ait is also laigely
useu as a means of ieminuing the community wheie they came fiom, wheie they'ie
going, anu wheie they uon't wish to ietuin. Aftei analyzing aiticles anu engaging in
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uialogue, we weie able to moie ueeply unueistanu the impoitance of ait in a
community anu the ways in which people can auvocate thiough a cieative
expiession of self. 0ui pioposeu action plan giew fiom this anu fiom the uesiie to
incluue elementaiy-ageu stuuents in an age-appiopiiate ciitical uiscussion. Because
eveiyone - iegaiuless of theii age, genuei, oi iace - univeisally unueistanus ait on
some level we ueciueu to use that as oui entiy point to a ueepei uiscussion on
expiession anu using one's community as a canvas to stait uialogue. 0ui iuea was to
set up a blank muial space oi laige canvas on a wall in Leimeit Paik anu have
chiluien fiom the neighboihoou anu suiiounuing schools to come to paint a muial.
Bue to the fact that we aim to emphasize ait's iole in expiession, we want to leave
the theme oi piompt faiily open enueu. We have uiscusseu not giving them any
paiameteis at all, but coulu also piompt them with questions such as: What uo you
want to give to youi community on this canvas. What uo you see in youi
neighboihoou anu how uo you feel about it. What is something oi someone in the
community that you caie about. What uo you hope foi youi futuie. We ieally want
the kius, theii lives, anu theii inteiactions with the community to be ieflecteu in
theii piece. Theii contiibutions can be political oi not. We want to teach the kius
that ait can be anything they want it to be. It can be fun, it can be happy, it can be
sau, it can tell a stoiy, oi begin a stoiy foi someone else to auu to. It can be
iepiesentational of themselves, theii community, oi society at laige. 0ui hope is
that the kius will feel empoweieu in the fact that theii hopes, uieams, iealities,
uiscontent, anu emotions mattei anu can open up meaningful uialogue. In piovoking
issues, uebates, anu conveisations, theii ait can be a meaningful avenue to invoking
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change anu suppoit. 0ui hope is that thiough this expeiience, ait can be fiameu as a
iesouice at the chiluien's anu gieatei community's uisposal.





















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Refeiences
uolu, N. (2uuS, Apiil u9). Citing Stigma, L.A. Nay Biop Name 'South-Cential' !"#
%&'()(# *+,(#. Retiieveu fiom
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Iivine, N. (2u12). *-( ."/0 "& 1-( 21/((13 21/((1 %/1 4&5 6+#74) 87)17/(. Retiieveu
fiom: http:www9.geoigetown.euufacultyiivinemaiticlesIivine-
WoikontheStieet-1.puf
Lambeit, S., & Buncombe, S. (2u11, Febiuaiy). 0ui iationale. 8(&1(/ 9"/ %/1+#1+:
%:1+;+#,. Retiieveu fiom: http:aitisticactivism.oigoui-iationale
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leimeit-paik
0liveiia, B. (2u11, Novembei uS). Pamela Castio: Social Activism with uiaffiti.
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