Invisible Intersections

I am still stunned that I got to create for this project honoring East Austinites. Twenty-something Austin artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds contributed work they were absolutely excited to showcase on a very pure level. The personal investment was palpable, you could feel it moving through you in all three locations. Interviewing Simone & Rocky, having the freedom to work on a large scale, meeting with the other artists to chat around a backyard fire, and sharing all of it with the community was really transformative.

Subjects, friends, & artists

Featuring Exhibits By:

Spoken Word: Charles Dwain Stephens, Zell Miller, Zai Saddler

Visual Artists: Chris Rogers Artist, Betelhem Makonnen, Jasmine Johnson, Montsho Jarreau Thoth, Tyeschea West, Roy Rutngamlug, Cindy E Lou, Lakeem Wilson, Arielle Austin, Jason Phelps & Da’Shade Moonbeam, Jonathan Maurel, Chaka Mandla Mhambi Mpeanaji, Ashton Guy, Fum Fum Ko – Director/Producer

Dance: Sade Jones & Ashé Arts

SoundScape: Lisa Byrd & Miriam Conner

From our write-up in Austin Monthly:

For the transitioning cultural landscape of East Austin, the narrative of the area has recently fixated on gentrification. However, Six Square, also known as Austin’s African American Cultural Heritage District, invites Austinites to delve deeper into the community and examine the neighborhood from a more human perspective.

Through the center’s new free multimedia exhibit, “Invisible Intersections,” 21 artists created 32 visual art pieces, from videography with droids, to mixed media and photography, to a life-size wooden kaleidoscope. Featured at three historical locations in East Austin, the George Washington Carver Museum, the Six Square Office and the African American Cultural Facility at the Dedrick Hamilton House, the show runs through Friday, April 22.

The group show was nominated for the 2015-16 Austin Critics Table Awards and covered by MUD Magazine.

Title image:

COSMIC CONSIDERS MATERIAL
oil on 4ft by 6ft board

Simone Bailey from the Domestic Violence Hotline

SHREDDER
oil on canvas

Rocky Charles Brown of the Gospel Silvertones