BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – The Laundromat Project today announced it will host Artists as Neighbors: Living Liberation, a three-day community conversation series to be held in locations around Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) neighborhood.
Held on June 9 – June 11, 2023, Artists as Neighbors: Living Liberation will explore issues of gentrification and displacement as well as how memory, history, and activism can be used in tandem to reclaim and defend neighborhoods. Through public forums, participants and panelists the convening will address challenges facing both artists and neighbors who are working in different fields, such as public advocacy, local organizing, history and preservation, as well as philanthropy, to address these topics.
The series will build to a culminating brunch on June 11 at Bed-Stuy stronghold, Restoration Plaza. This gathering over a shared meal will serve as an opportunity to address the wide and complex challenges facing both artists and neighbors in a time of immense change. Together, participants will share strategies for building community and nurturing creativity in ways that lead to our collective liberation.
All Artists as Neighbors: Living Liberation forums will be free and open to the public. Bed-Stuy residents, cultural workers, creative producers, business owners, and organizational leaders, are invited to attend. Registration is available at laundromatproject.org.
“As a non-profit arts organization, we certainly see artists and cultural producers as key to developing innovative ideas about and approaches to solving the complex problems we face as a community, particularly in our organizational home of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn” said Ayesha Williams, Executive Director of The Laundromat Project. “I’m excited to see how generative the outcomes of discussions about gentrification and belonging can be when creativity is placed at the center of possible solutions, and when artists are seen as core facilitators and leaders in the efforts to improve the future of neighborhoods like ours in Bed-Stuy and across greater New York City.”
Details on Artists as Neighbors: Living Liberation are as follows:
Friday, June 9
Community Conversation: Evolutions in Public Art and Displacement
6:00pm–7:30pm
Somewhere Good (320 Tompkins Ave., Brooklyn, NY)
Saturday, June 10
Community Conversation: Remembering & Reclaiming Our Neighborhoods
Location: Restoration Plaza (1368 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY)
For more information and to register, visit laundromatproject.org.
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ABOUT THE LAUNDROMAT PROJECT:
The Laundromat Project is a Black-rooted and POC-led community-based arts organization dedicated to the advancement of artists and residents of New York City as change agents within their own communities. We envision a world in which artists and neighbors in communities of color work together to harness the power of creativity that has the ability to inspire and initiate meaningful change and that generates long-lasting impact. We make sustained investments in growing a community of multiracial, multigenerational, and multidisciplinary artists and neighbors committed to societal change by supporting their artmaking, community building, and leadership development.
Since 2005, The Laundromat Project has directly invested over $1M in over 200 multiracial, multigenerational, and multidisciplinary artists; nearly 90 innovative public art projects; and a creative community hub in Bed-Stuy, while engaging close to 50,000 New Yorkers across the city and beyond. The idea of a laundromat as a primary place for engagement has expanded over time. It now serves as a metaphor for a variety of community settings in which artists and neighbors transform their lives and surroundings. Our programming has evolved to take place in community gardens, public plazas, libraries, sidewalks, local cultural organizations, and other places where people gather.
Comments Off on Collective Care: April’s Liberation Series in Review
April’s Liberation Series events are dedicated to featuring the voices of Black artists and community leaders whose work have made impacts across the environment, art, and maternal health. We partnered with several Brooklyn-based organizations and community members to bring attention to Earth Day,National Poetry Month and Black Maternal Health Week.
All of the events are in alignment with The LP’s mission and values and developed around one of three missions: Make Art, Build Community, Create Change.
Read on to learn more about this month’s offerings to our community: , Upcycle! Imagining a Green Bed-Stuy, LP Rhymes: Black Poets & Scribes Final Fridays, and Ubuntu Giving Circle: Amplifying Black Maternal Health Week.
Make Art
Upcycle! Imagining a Green Bed-Stuy
Photography c/o Micah Brown
In honor of Earth Day, we hosted Upcycle! Imagining a Green Bed-Stuy where LP staff and neighbors got their hands dirty! Over 21 attendees gathered on Fulton Street with the mission of filling as many trash bags as necessary to clean up the area. Together they gathered 6 large bags of trash, which were sorted into recycling, compost, and landfill trash.
After the clean up, the group gathered in Whole Neighborhood Garden for a free artmaking workshop led by artist and current Create Change Fellow Les Mejia. Les instructed attendees on how to create assemblage, or 3-D collages, with found objects.
“[I wanted] to not only provide a moment of collective care within the neighborhood but to also engage in community art making with an environmentally conscious twist.”
Les mejia artist & lp create change fellow
“[I wanted] to not only provide a moment of collective care within the neighborhood but to also engage in community art making with an environmentally conscious twist,” shared Les Mejia. “As an emerging artist and cultural organizer, it was so exciting to explore this form of sustainable art-making alongside the Bed-stuy community while also getting the opportunity to engage in conversations surrounding topics such as environmental racism, effects of gentrification in our neighborhoods, and much more. In my larger work, I am able to explore therapeutic art making as a tool for healing and wellness and this space truly felt aligned with that mission.”
Photography c/o Micah Brown
We chose to launch this community event because we knew that sanitation has been a prominent concern for many of Bed-Stuy’s residents. The conception of Upcycle! Imagining a Green Bed-Stuy is a direct response to community conversations on trash, cleanliness, and the maintenance of existing public space.
“Throughout my time at The LP, I’ve spoken with a number of community members who’ve expressed frustration with increasing trash and litter in the neighborhood,” shared LP Program’s Associate Alexander Huayliños. “The result of which is poor environmental safety and health. Since about 1980, Brooklyn Community Board 3 has been advocating for a Bed-Stuy dedicated Sanitation Garage, which would house sanitation tools and vehicles essential for regular cleaning. However, city government only recently approved such requests in 2019 by authorizing the construction of a Sanitation Garage on Nostrand Avenue. In the face of municipal negligence and environmental racism, local residents and community collectives like Block Associations or Community Gardens have long since acted as environmental stewards by self-organizing green programs and trash cleanups.”
“Gentrification has also brought an influx of housing constructions and population booms that only worsen sanitation issues in the absence of proper municipal support. The choice to host an upcycling workshop in Whole Neighborhood Garden, one of the neighborhood’s few green spaces, is The LP’s way of calling attention to and furthering Bed-Stuy’s efforts toward just environmental stewardship.”
“By making art using trash and found objects, we hope to show folks how they can build community while leveraging their natural ingenuity, creativity, and sense of care in the service of a cleaner and more resilient neighborhood.”
Build Community
LP Rhymes: Black Poets & Scribes
Photos c/o LP Staff
Barbie Beauvais and Dasia Moore
Laila shows off their finished collage
Every last Friday of the month is dedicated to a Liberation Series event hosted at The LP storefront at 1476 Fulton St. For April’s event, we celebrated National Poetry Month and gathered at the storefront to kick back with poets and artists in the LP community!
Our poetry station included a library of over 40 books written by Black poets including Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, June Jordan, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sonia Sanchez, as well as contemporary poets such as Jericho Brown, Nathasha Trethewey, Danez Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Ross Gay, Morgan Parker, and many others.
Participants were invited to take time to peruse the books and find poems that resonated with them. After sharing poems with each other and making some copies, we journeyed into the world of collage. Using lines from existing poems as inspiration or as the basis for new-found poetry, participants pasted together poetic collages that spoke to their experiences, feelings and lives.
“It was nice to expand the definition of poetry and hear people’s favorite poems, hear some people’s original poetry––which can be so vulnerable. It was incredible to be that instantly connected that people felt comfortable enough to do that.”
Danialie Fertile Bed-Stuy Resident
We closed out the event with a round robin-style reading of both poetry authored by folks in the room as well as favorite poems written by Black writers. LP neighbor Dwight Forbes read a poem by Claude McKay about his experience as Black immigrant to America, chosen because its theme resonated with his personal journey.
Laila Stevens’ collage pulled lines from several poems in order to create a beautiful meditation on love and budding relationships. Local artists Barbie Beauvais and Dasia Moore discussed their gratitude to be able to think poetically while working visually. Barbie also shared how language and words have been coming more and more into their painting practice.
Local Bed-Stuy resident Danialie Fertile reflected a few weeks after the program: “Attending the event highlighting Black poets at The Laundromat Project for National Poetry Month was a great opportunity to meet other people in my neighborhood and talk about art. I got my hands into some collage making, which I hadn’t done in a really long time, and it really let me think about poetry in multiple forms like the written word, that I’m familiar with as a writer, and the spoken word that I’ve talked about or seen, but it also allowed me to think about the craft of poetry in a visual way. It felt like everyone in the room was building a visual poem of sorts in the way that their canvases looked. It was nice to expand the definition of poetry and hear people’s favorite poems, hear some people’s original poetry––which can be so vulnerable. It was incredible to be that instantly connected that people felt comfortable enough to do that, and I credit that to the easiness and just the fun of doing this kind of activity on a Friday night together.”
Create Change
Ubuntu Giving Circle: Amplifying Black Maternal Health Week
Photography c/o Michael Woodard
April 11th – 17th was Black Maternal Health Week, and The LP stood in solidarity with Black Indigenous People of Color around the world whose birthing rights, autonomy and agency are being violated daily. We partnered with theARIAH Foundation and the directors of the award-winning documentary AFTERSHOCK at the historic Kings Theatre in Brooklyn for a transformative night of art, storytelling and performance as we celebrated a future where all people who give birth are honored and treated with dignity and care.
These partners hosted a community gathering called “The UBUNTU Giving Circle” in response to the Black Maternal Health crisis and to raise awareness about the reproductive disparities and inequalities that disproportionately impact BIPOC families. That message— “I Am, Because WE Are!”—resonated deeply with The LP and our mission. UBUNTU is an African-centered philosophy that declares that each person’s humanity is inextricably tied to the humanity of the collective and that the advancement of the collective is connected to the progress of each individual.
“Whether it is world hunger, the AIDS crisis or body positivity, art has, and will continue to, revolutionize and humanize. I trust art. I believe in its power and I will continue to infuse it in my activism, as well as, my healing journey as a black woman and a grieving mother.”
Shawnee benton gibson Founder of the ariah foundation
The UBUNTU Giving Circle was attended by hundreds of community members, key stakeholders and philanthropists who are committed to addressing the crisis in Black maternal health by generating resources that will be utilized by the ARIAH Foundation to fuel its mission and expand its reach. The opening ceremony incorporated a “Wailing” Ring Shout in order to call forth and honor those who are now ancestors as a result of Black Maternal Mortality. Ebony Golden, CEO of Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative and The LP’s 2023 Teaching Artist, shared her powerful voice, guidance and covering as our host for the evening, and brought the Spirit of Ubuntu to life by opening the way and holding space for community healing.
When asked how art can help build awareness around the issue of maternal mortality globally, Shawnee Benton Gibson, Founder of Spirit of a Woman, LLC and the ARIAH Foundation, said, “The global crisis in black maternal health is multifaceted and nuanced. Each country, city, region, province and culture has their own unique set of circumstances and corresponding needs; especially as it relates to sexual and reproductive healthcare. There isn’t one approach or activation that can ameliorate the crisis, however, there is something that we all have in common that has the ability to cross time, space, mindset and worldview. That “something” is art.”
Photography c/o Michael Woodard
“Horace Mann said that “education is the great equalizer”, however, art is the mechanism that transcends our minds, bodies and spirits. Art is a conduit for sharing, exposing, inspiring and mobilizing people from all walks of life,” she continued. “It has been a powerful conduit for spreading the messages and the movements that have changed the quality of life for individuals, communities and societies across the planet. Art creates a holistic experience that transcends the limitations of our minds and expands are ability to understand and process what is happening to us and around us. Whether it is world hunger, the AIDS crisis or body positivity, art has, and will continue to, revolutionize and humanize. I trust art. I believe in its power and I will continue to infuse it in my activism, as well as, my healing journey as a black woman and a grieving mother.”
The night’s events featured performing arts, community dialogue, and panel discussions on topics such as policies and resources for fathers left to raise their children after losing their partners to childbirth. The night closed out with community members taking the Ubuntu Pledge, a community call to action to support initiatives and programs that will educate and support services to transform outcomes for those most impacted by systemic racism and inequities and disparities in the reproductive healthcare system. Attendees shared that they left feeling “touched”, “moved” and “inspired” to fertilize more ideas, innovations and take action to continue addressing the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis locally, nationally and abroad.
Interested in learning more about the ARIAH Foundation? Learn more here.
We had an incredible time being in community this month and hope all our attendees and supporters did, too! The Liberation Series continues—we’ll be partnering with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for the rest of 2023.
Leslie “Les” Mejia (She/They) is a South Bronx (Lenape Land) native of Dominican Descent. Les sits on the intersection of Educational Equity, Arts facilitation, and Wellness advocacy. Her connection to the arts began during high school years where she was introduced to visual arts as an outlet for personal life challenges. Art became a huge healing modality and she has since worked toward finding a way to share art as a healing tool.
As a licensed social worker, she has had the opportunity to fuse her love for artistic expression and explore its relation to mental health and wellness. In her most recent endeavors, Les has begun bringing community events to the South Bronx with the sole purpose of connecting, creating, and inviting folks to express themselves freely. In 2022, she was able to work in collaboration with the Department of Education, local government officials, various community based partners, and local Bronx businesses.
Originally dedicated in 1990 by Mayor Dinkins as a Lots-For-Tots Playground called Family Affair Neighborhood Park, this 4,000 square foot garden was used as a playspace for many years by the Association for Black Social Workers (ABSW) daycare.
After the ABSW daycare closed, the space was underused until it was reborn as the Whole Neighborhood Garden and rebuilt as part of the 2013 Gardens for Healthy Communities program within the Mayor’s Obesity Task Force Initiative.
The garden is publicly open on Saturdays from 9am-12pm, now till the end of summer. Community members are welcome to visit, hangout, and help revitalize the garden (i.e. clean-up, prepping soil, planting).
Become a member! Email [email protected] to ask about joining the garden and claiming an open garden plot.
ARIAH stands for the Advancement of Reproductive Innovation through Artistry and. Healing. The ARIAH Foundation was established in 2019 after the tragic and preventable death of Shamony Makeba Gibson due to a birth related pulmonary embolism. Shamony represents so many powerful women of color whose lives were cut short due to birth inequities and reproductive injustice in the United States.
The foundation seeks to support individuals, families and communities who experience the devastating Aftershock associated with maternal/infant morbidity and mortality. ARIAH provides mental, physical emotional and/or spiritual assistance to support the affected families as they navigate the impact of these traumatic experiences.
Throughout 2023, The Laundromat Project will be hosting our Liberation Series programs: curated community activities focused on the collective power of cultural organizing for change. Each event is a partnership with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
We’re hosting these events in alignment with The LP’s mission and values, so all events will be developed around one of three themes: Make Art, Build Community, Create Change.
Join us for future Liberation Series events, and continue to learn more about The LP’s work in our new home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, as well as our many celebrated neighbors and change makers.
Support The Laundromat Project
If you are interested in supporting future programming like this and other LP initiatives, we invite you to join our Catalyst Circle—a dynamic group of change makers who believe in the power of creativity to create change. Starting at $5 a month, the Catalysts provide sustained support. Learn more.
We are also currently running our Spring Appeal. Support creatives and makers in community, addressing issues close to us all by contributing to our Spring Appeal campaign. Donate today!
Comments Off on Meet Folasade Ologundudu, Media and Storytelling Manager
Folasade joined The LP team as our Media & Storytelling Manager this month. Get to know more about her!
In what neighborhood do you live?
Lower East Side
How did you first become connected to The LP, or hear about The LP?
I first heard of The LP on instagram through mutual friends who were re-sharing content on social media, I found Kemi, our previous ED and was very inspired by her work and The LP mission. I’ve been aware of the organization ever since and have always been a fan of the work that’s being done within the organization and the communities that are served by The LP.
So, what attracted you to The LP? How does working here relate to your professional goals?
What attracted me to The LP is work that is rooted in community engagement and empowerment. I’m also attracted to the professional development I can achieve in a communications role with many moving parts and lots of dynamic projects.
Do you have your own creative practice? If so, tell us more!
Yes, I do! I’m a writer and podcast host and producer! I also curate exhibitions.
Can you tell us about an artist or project that has inspired you?
I love public art projects that engage citizens across cultures. Some immediate examples that come to mind are Simone Leigh’s work at the High line Park in Chelsea, Sanford Biggers installation at Rockefeller Center, and many others.
What is your favorite film?…album?…food?
OMG! I can’t do favorites! There’s just too much stuff out there that I like. Some top picks are The Fifth Element and Inception, Reasonable Doubt, Lover Rock, Songs in the Key of Life, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, for food my top picks are Mediterranean, Italian, and all kinds of Asian cuisine which I LOVE!
Where do you do your laundry?
At the laundromat near my apartment
In your opinion, why does art matter?
Art elevates human consciousness beyond its base levels. Art allows us to see the world with new eyes, with a new understanding, and it enable each of us to ask deeply important questions about the world we inhabit and ourselves. Art is transformative and it represents, in my opinion, the best of us as human beings and allows us to aspire for more.
What LP value do you most related to and why?
The LP value I relate to the most is “We Write Our Own Histories.” I think this is one of the single most important things I think about when I consider my work as a writer, content creator, curator, and thought leader within the fields of art and culture. Perhaps if Black people and other groups had historically always had the agency to tell their own stories I’d feel differently but the importance of being the narrator of your own experiences is incredibly important to me.
Folasade Ologundudu is a Brooklyn-born curator, podcast creator and writer seeking to uncover ideas related to the universal human condition. She has written art criticism, profiles, interviews, and essays for ArtForum, ARTnews, Cultured Magazine, Frieze, Photograph Magazine, among other publications. Ologundudu is also the founder of Light Work, a creative media platform rooted at the intersection of art, education, and culture. Through her podcast, Everything Is Connected, she holds conversations with artists and entrepreneurs deeply rooted in visual arts, media, youth culture, and community building.
Comments Off on Women’s Herstory Month Celebrations at The LP
The LP’s Liberation Series continues! In celebration of Women’s Herstory Month, we partnered with the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, local stakeholders, and small businesses in Bed-Stuy to honor the rich legacies of women in Brooklyn. The events, which are just a few of the many in our yearlong Liberation Series, amplified the work of artists and community members whose work is making an impact in Brooklyn and beyond.
All of the events are in alignment with The LP’s mission and values and developed around one of three missions: Make Art, Build Community, Create Change.
Read on to learn more about this month’s offerings to our community: Celebrating Women Who Tell our Stories, Letters for Liberation: Women & Transfemmes Organizing Through Writing, and Support Magnolia Tree Earth Center.
Make Art
Celebrating Women Who Tell our Stories
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Artist Kira Joy Williams of The Laundromat Project; Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Brooklyn Festival of Arts and Music (FAM); Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Chanel Ali of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective; Image c/o the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
The Laundromat Project was invited to participate in Celebrating Women Who Tell our Stories, an annual community event hosted by the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, alongside our neighbors Brooklyn FAM and Brooklyn Comedy Collective to celebrate Women’s Herstory Month. We’re grateful to Borough President Antonio Reynoso, the event partners, and the over 150 Brooklyn residents who came out for the evening!
“Storytelling is at the heart of everything that makes us special: the traditions of our ancestors, the compassion of community, and the subversive imagination that spurs local and global change,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “This month, we’re celebrating the women who carry our stories beyond borders and across time – whether through spoken word and oral history, song and music, poetry and prose, and so much more. It’s through their creativity and perseverance that once-whispered stories and people nearly lost to time have secured the place in our cultural memory they deserved from the beginning.”
“This month, we’re celebrating the women who carry our stories beyond borders and across time – whether through spoken word and oral history, song and music, poetry and prose, and so much more. It’s through their creativity and perseverance that once-whispered stories and people nearly lost to time have secured the place in our cultural memory they deserved from the beginning.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso
During the event, 2023 Create Change Artist-in-Residence Kira Joy Williams shared her oral history and visual storytelling project, “Home is in the Stories,” and invited attendees to participate in an artmaking workshop on storytelling and placemaking. This workshop honored the radical history of Black Women storytellers and craft-workers who used quilting to preserve cultural memory. Attendees reflected on and shared their own stories of home and made portraits of one another. Ultimately, the works were then formed into a collective, photo-based story-quilt displayed during the event.
Executive Director Ayesha Williams thanked Brooklyn Borough President Reynoso for inviting The Laundromat Project and Create Change Artist-in-Residence Kira Joy Williams to participate in this dynamic Women’s History Month program, stating: “It is not just a privilege but an honor to uplift and amplify the stories of women. Each story holds power to inspire and transform our communities and the world for the better. This is evident through Kira’s project Home is in the Stories, an artistic archive comprising portraits of and oral histories from Black residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. With Women’s History Month’s focus on Storytelling, Kira’s project reminds us that it is imperative we take control of our own narratives and that our stories are the essential basis for building lasting community power.”
Letters for Liberation: Women & Transfemmes Organizing Through Writing
We closed Women’s Herstory Month with Final Fridays, a new social event for local residents, artists, and LP staff to mingle and connect over snacks and beverages in our storefront! We held an intimate storefront social dedicated to exploring the history of women––particularly queer women and transfemmes––organizing through letter writing.
We set up a display to walk attendees through the rich history of women-led and trans-led community organizing in prisons and around incarceration, including historical and contemporary writings and letters for reference. This touchpoint grounded participants in the power of prisoner correspondence and reporting as tools for liberatory political practices. With a renewed sense of the stakes and the lineage that we were in, participants had the chance to sit down with one another at our storefront letter writing station, where they designed postcards and participants could sit down, grab a pen, and take a few moments to write to Black transwomen and transfemmes who are currently incarcerated.
“”A pattern we are hoping to break is one where organizations look to start working with queer and trans communities in June, ” shared our Senior Manager of Artist & Community Development, Isa Saldaña. “Not only is it often very difficult to coordinate deeply due to the oversaturation of Pride-related asks and events (similar to how Black-led organizations or Black organizers are inundated in February), but it creates a tokenizing effect. At The LP, we want to set a precedent of being committed trans and queer artists and organizers year-round. As such, it was crucial for us to see through the intention of centering transwomen within celebrations of Women’s History Month. Just by luck, our introduction of Final Fridays meant that the event happened to fall on March 31st, Trans Day of Visibility.”
“[The LP’s letter writing event] gave me a way to focus my energy and do something simple yet impactful for more vulnerable Black trans community members. It was special to spend some time together with Black trans folks and our legacies on the Trans Day of Visibility and to uplift Black transwomen and femmes in particular.”
Marissa Hatten, local Bed-Stuy resident
As Final Friday came to a close, several attendees headed into the night in conversation, discussing newly discovered points of connection over the evening’s activity. We were thrilled to see this real-time community building, evidence that reinforces The LP value & belief that artmaking can be a basis to bring people together to build communities oriented to cultural change
“My time at The Laundromat Project’s [March] community building event gave me a way to focus my energy and do something simple yet impactful for more vulnerable Black trans community members,” local Bed-Stuy resident Marissa Hatten shared with The LP team. “It was special to spend some time together with Black trans folks and our legacies on the Trans Day of Visibility and to uplift Black transwomen and femmes in particular. It also just felt good to spend a couple hours on a Friday night in a space where you could feel that people had a shared vision and values.
While drawing and writing the postcards, I remembered previous pen pal projects I’ve had with incarcerated folks in the past. The shared activity not only reignited the spark of inspiration, but also talking about those experiences––the challenges and the rewards––with other people while getting to know a bit about them and their experiences reminded me how much easier it is to do these kinds of things together rather than alone.”
This month The Laundromat Project called its community to help save the legacy of Hattie Carthan, the mother of environmental work in Brooklyn. In 1972, Mrs. Carthan founded the Magnolia Tree Earth Centerof Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc. (MTEC) and her pioneering efforts brought a variety of green programs to her neighborhood during the early emergence of the grassroots and environmental education movements.
The center is now raising money to pay for urgent repairs to its deteriorating façades—without these repairs, MTEC could lose the building to the city. As their GoFundMe states, “In a historically Black community facing upheaval from gentrification, cost of living increases, and other threats, MTEC represents a Black -founded, -owned, and -led institution whose mission is rooted in social justice, self-determination, and land ownership by and for the Bed-Stuy community.” It’s critical that we support and sustain our community’s legacy and institutions.
Simultaneously but independently from The LP’s March community engagement program planning, the 2023 Create Change Fellows had begun ideating around their final projects. Local Bed-Stuy artist, organizer, and former LP Intern, Maat Silin, is a member of the current fellowship cohort who had been connected to Magnolia Tree Earth Center and felt called to pitch in to efforts to save this community cornerstone. Along with fellow group members Anna Parisi and Mica Verendia, they developed a multi-part proposal to amplify Magnolia Tree’s on-going work for their Create Change Fellowship activation.
After meeting with the center’s board chair, Wayne Devonish, the group embarked on designing a poster to get the word out more widely about the center’s dilemma and funding needs. Combining their skills as artists, designers, organizers, writers, and researchers, they used the poster to uplift the legacy of Hattie Carthan and honor the Black and Indigenous histories of stewarding Brooklyn’s plant life. While they continue to help the center get in contact with architects and search for trustworthy contractors to support the much-needed repairs, the Create Change Fellows group, nicknamed “The Hatties” after the MTEC founder, encourages other folks to get involved in any way possible––whether offering professional services pro bono, directly donating funds to the campaign, or purchasing a special edition print of their commemorative poster, which will be sold on a sliding scale with all sales benefiting METC.
We had an incredible time learning more about women’s stories and legacies this month and hope all our attendees and supporters did, too! The Liberation Series continues—we’ll be partnering with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for the rest of 2023.
Kira Joy Williams (she/they) is an artist and community builder based in Brooklyn, NY on occupied Lenape land. Kira strives to contribute positively and generatively to existing visual representation of Black people in the U.S. by creating archival materials in collaboration with the very people being represented. Through photographs and oral history, Kira’s art explores notions of diaspora, home, care, and community. Her photographs and recorded histories exist in the wake of longstanding memory-work traditions that use the past to make sense of the present and construct a new future––one in which we all belong. Kira received a BA from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University in 2015 and is currently a Master’s student at Gallatin.
Antonio Reynoso was elected as the first Latino Brooklyn Borough President. He’s a native Brooklynite, born and raised along with two sisters in South Williamsburg to Dominican immigrants. Reynoso is serving Brooklyn to make the borough the progressive capital of the world by building on his extensive record in the City Council. Reynoso’s twin guiding principles throughout his life, have always been the concepts of justice and equity, and he has vowed to fight each and every day to give all Brooklynites the opportunity to thrive and succeed. Learn more about the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office.
The Brooklyn Comedy Collective is an alt comedy theater in Brooklyn with a mission to produce irreverent, fearless shows from a wide range of voices, pay its artists, and inspire students to approach performance from a place of joy and fierceness. We believe in the power of collective decision making and ensuring a diversity of voices are at the table. From year-round comedy classes to workshops for businesses large and small to improv festivals and live comedy produced Tuesday-Sunday nights in East Williamsburg, we celebrate anyone who wants to let their freak flag fly.
Learn more, attend a show, or pitch an idea to BCC.
Brooklyn Festival of Arts and Music (FAM)’s mission is to offer high-quality, family-friendly, culturally diverse arts programming that invites the community to observe, connect, and create. Their programs will always be free to the public.
They provide access to innovative arts experiences rarely available to families, often due to sheer lack of availability or prohibitive scheduling, location, or cost. They believe that access lies at the crux of our values of diversity, inclusion, social justice, and empathy.
The Magnolia Tree Earth Center (MTEC)‘s goal is to be urban America’s leader in creating community awareness of ecological, horticultural and environmental concerns and to introduce inner city children to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) that foster urban beautification, earth stewardship, and community sustainability.
Honor Hattie’s legacy and attend Upcycle!, The LP’s April Liberation Series event in celebration of Earth Day 2023
About the Liberation Series
Throughout 2023, The Laundromat Project will be hosting our Liberation Series programs: curated community activities focused on the collective power of cultural organizing for change. Each event is a partnership with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
We’re hosting these events in alignment with The LP’s mission and values, so all events will be developed around one of three themes: Make Art, Build Community, Create Change.
Join us for future Liberation Series events, and continue to learn more about The LP’s work in our new home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, as well as our many celebrated neighbors and change makers.
Support The Laundromat Project
If you are interested in supporting future programming like this and other LP initiatives, we invite you to join our Catalyst Circle—a dynamic group of change makers who believe in the power of creativity to create change. Starting at $5 a month, the Catalysts provide sustained support. Learn more.
Comments Off on Liberation Series Recap: Black History Month
In celebration of Black History Month, The LP launched three community events alongside local stakeholders and businesses in Bed-Stuy. The events, which are a few of many in our ongoing Liberation Series, featured the voices of artists and community leaders whose work has made impacts across Black history, art, identity, business, and social justice.
All of the events are in alignment with The LP’s mission and values and developed around one of three themes: Build Community, Make Art,or Create Change.
Read on to learn more about our three events: Dolls and Locs: Crafting Beauty from the Center (Make Art), Real Talk: Trivia for Us x The LP (Build Community), and Social Brunch with the United Order of Tents (Create Change).
Make Art
Dolls and Locs: Crafting Beauty from the Center
At Dolls and Locs, local artist Shaquora R’ Bey led a doll making workshop where participants were able to make, style, and accessorize dolls in community. We partnered with the Brooklyn Public Library’s Macon Library to host this event—an ideal partner because the Macon Library connects the rich collections of the African American Heritage Center to artmaking through its archives.
Drawing upon her dual expertise as a loctician and doll maker, Shaquora guided attendees in the use of craft as an interactive medium for reflection on Black hair, beauty, and identity. Attendees could take home their creations, and had the opportunity to peruse the curated selection of books and cultural resources that the Macon Library provided. For Dolls and Locs, the Macon Library staff curated a collection of books that highlight themes of Black hair, natural beauty, and doll making. Find the curated book list here or visit Macon Library to dig in!
Shaquora R’ Bey is a multidimensional artist, doll maker, soft sculptor, textile artisan, professional loctician and the owner of Sophisticated Locs Salon (328 Lewis Ave., Brooklyn). Her work encompasses a wide range of media including textiles, crotchet, beads, and unique hair designs. She has been commissioned to make sculptures and dolls for television and films, and she believes in the healing process of using craft as therapy and in using art to raise self-esteem and awareness.
Brooklyn Public Library’s Macon Branch Library (361 Lewis Ave., Brooklyn) was opened in 1907 and is one of the best preserved Carnegie branches in Brooklyn. The Dionne Mack-Harvin Center, Macon Library’s African American Heritage Center, contains material on African American history and culture as well as the “Preserving Footsteps” collection. A landmark in the heart of a richly historic neighborhood, Macon Library is primed to continue serving patrons for many years to come.
Support Macon Library
Grab your library card and check out these BHM book recommendations curated by the Macon branch staff
Becoming a Friend of Macon Library, ask a staff member for details or email [email protected] for more information.
From left to right: Deydra Bringas (Trivia for Us host), Trisha Louison (1st place winner), Katiana Toppin (3rd Place Winner), “M” (2nd Place WInner), and Shakira Hodges (Trivia for Us host). Photo c/o The LP staff.
Our community came with the knowledge to our Real Talk event with Trivia for Us—a Black-owned, women-owned, and Brooklyn-based small business led by Deydra Bringas and Shakira Hodges. The duo curates fun multicultural experiences through customized trivia games and they delivered with a trivia competition focused on Black history, art, and culture with specific attention to BedStuy.
The night was filled with good conversation, laughter, and a special prize for the winners: gift cards to Peace & Riot, Doc’s Cake Shop, and Brooklyn Tea, as well as a Laundromat Project tote bag. Congratulations to Trisha Louison, “M”, and Katiana Toppin for taking home first, second and third place, respectively!
“I had a great night, I really enjoyed the gift card to Doc’s Cake Shop. The bakery is actually within walking distance from my house and I never went until I was awarded the card!”
M, 2nd Place Trivia winner
Trivia For Us was founded by Deydra Bringas and Shakira Hodges. As founders, these long-time high school friends and HBCU grads, Deydra Bringas and Shakira Hodges are curating inclusive trivia experiences after attending trivia games in their gentrified hometown of Brooklyn, NY left them feeling excluded and isolated. It was at that moment Deydra and Shakira saw an opportunity to change the game.
In a space that lacks diversity, their originally sourced questions are inclusive and are a direct reflection of their diverse experiences. Which is highlighted in their newest addition to the brand with the Trivia For Us card game “A Mind Game for the Culture”. Bringing the experience into everyone’s home and corporate offices.
Follow them on IG for upcoming events: @triviaforus
Subscribe to their YouTube channel to learn more: @triviaforus2665
Create Change
Social Brunch with the United Order of Tents
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
Photo c/o Micah Brown Photo
We teamed up with Greedi Vegan to introduce and connect local residents to members of The United Order of Tents Eastern District #3—one of the oldest Black women’s benevolent societies in the US. With the gracious support of our restaurant partner, 10% of the brunch proceeds will be donated to the Tents’ fundraising campaign in service of their efforts to preserve their historic headquarters at 87 MacDonough Street.
Event attendees were able to learn about the rich legacy of The United Order of Tents, and our own Director of Programs Catherine Mbali Green-Johnson learned of her own family’s ties to the organization!
She shared, “In the process of curating our Create Change event, our team carefully planned for a deeply meaningful activation that would touch many members of our community. the feedback we received from those who attended truly resonated on our intention in many ways, however, I never imagined how personally I myself would be tied to this event. My mother Sarah Jones drove all the way from her home of Dover, DE to support our program on her way to attending an annual community event entitled “The MAAFA” which is itself a deep reflection on the African American experience.”
“The day after we jumped on our daily call, and I naturally asked for her feedback of the event. She shared how proud and deeply moved she was by what she learned about UOT and that all of the women in our maternal line going back to my Great Grandmother Josephine Slade were also members of the Tents in Southport, NC! She shared that she herself was a junior Tent when growing up and that it was a well-known collective of women in the South, however, she did NOT know how and why it came to be founded. This event not only enlightened her on the history of the organization, it gave a deeper understanding of our families legacy in the liberation of our people. For me, I now get to pass on this rich knowledge to my children so that they have an understanding of the shoulders on which they stand.”
“[My mother] shared how proud and deeply moved she was by what she learned about United Order of Tents and that all of the women in our maternal line going back to my Great Grandmother Josephine Slade were also members of the Tents in Southport, NC! She shared that she herself was a junior Tent when growing up […] This event not only enlightened her on the history of the organization, it gave a deeper understanding of our families legacy in the liberation of our people.”
Catherine Mbali Green-Johnson, The Laundromat PRoject DIrector of Programs
While attendees met members of this historic organization and enjoyed delicious dishes like bread pudding French toast topped with rum sauce and fruit compote, a talented group of musicians set the tone. We’re grateful to Aaron Ni’Jai, Malika Esdelle, Ajani NaNaBuluku, Da’jon, and Greedi Vegan for a fulfilling sensory experience!
The United Order of Tents Eastern District #3 is a Black women’s fraternal order located in Brooklyn, NY. Established in the 19th century, The United Order of Tents served the cause of abolition, originally providing aid to those escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad. As an early mutual aid society, they also provided food, shelter, clothing, nursing care, and proper burial to those in need. Now, their current mission is to solve local issues and serve their community, especially elderly neighbors, through the bonds of sisterhood.
Greedi Vegan is focused on providing delicious and nutritious vegan comfort food for the community. Owner and Brooklyn native Latisha Daring spent 26 years working in fashion, but was inspired to launch Greedi Vegan after she’d grown frustrated with the lack of diversity and flavor profiles available in Brooklyn. Daring decided that her years of experience in customer service and her passion for food would pair well in providing an experience that was desperately needed in the borough – and she was right!
We had an incredible time at our Black History Month events and hope all our attendees did, too! The Liberation Series continues—we’ll be partnering with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for the rest of 2023.
Throughout 2023, The Laundromat Project will be hosting our Liberation Series programs: curated community activities focused on the collective power of cultural organizing for change. Each event is a partnership with local artists, cultural producers, community members, stakeholders, local business owners, and community-based organizations in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
We’re hosting these events in alignment with The LP’s mission and values, so all events will be developed around one of three themes: Build Community. Make Art. Create Change.
Join us for future Liberation Series events, and continue to learn more about The LP’s work in our new home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, as well as our many celebrated neighbors and change makers.
Support The Laundromat Project
If you are interested in supporting future programming like this and other LP initiatives, we invite you to join our Catalyst Circle—a dynamic group of change makers who believe in the power of creativity to create change. Starting at $5 a month, the Catalysts provide sustained support. Learn more.
Comments Off on Press Release: The Laundromat Project Announces its 2023 Create Change Artists-in-Residence and Fellows
Bedford-Stuyvesant Based Arts Nonprofit Launches Cohort of Twenty-one New York City-based Artists and Cultural Producers of Color working in Communities of Color
BROOKLYN, NY – Today, The Laundromat Project (The LP) announced its 18th annual Create Change Artist Development Program. The Bedford-Stuyvesant based organization will work alongside 21 New-York based artists and cultural producers working in and with communities of color. The Create Change Artist Development Program includes Create Change Artists-in-Residence and Create Change Fellows, and each participant will receive between $1,000 and $25,000 to support the development of their participatory and community-attuned creative projects, along with a network of mentors and peer-support to help advance their creative, community-based work.
“This year’s cohort of Create Change Artists-in-Residence and Fellows have a remarkable depth to the type of work they are doing in communities across New York City and in our anchor neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn,” said Ayesha Williams, Executive Director of The Laundromat Project. “They remind us that the creativity that sustains communities, are built in connection to our histories, our cultures, and to each other, and that it is incredibly important for our art to reflect and capture that. These artists remind us that the art we produce and observe is the basis for public memory and for advocacy efforts that move the dial forward, ever more important in a rapidly-changing city such as New York.”
The Laundromat Project’s Create Change Artist-in-Residence and Fellows programs supports artists and cultural producers who are developing and deepening collaborative, community-based, and socially-engaged creative practices. The Fellowship is philosophically grounded in peer-learning around art making, power analysis, and community building. Seven Create Change Artists-in-Residence receive up to $25,000 in funding for their four projects.
Faculty for The Laundromat Project’s 2023 Create Change Artist Development Program includes Ebony Noelle Golden (Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative), Shawnee Benton Gibson (Spirit of a Woman), Urban Bush Women, Kamau Ware (Black Gotham Experience), and Laundromat Project staff, among others.
“The LP has experienced tremendous expansion of our organization’s ability to invest in and support creative cultural producers who are making a positive impact across our city,” said Catherine Mbali Green-Johnson, Director of Programs at The Laundromat Project. “Each year I am increasingly impressed by the breadth of the people and projects that become a part of The LP’s community. As individuals they are each contributing to the preservation of our community stories in the most creative ways. Collectively, they are resisting the erasure that so often comes with gentrification and other adverse efforts that mar the fabric of communities of color.”
2023 Create Change Artists-in-Residence include: Shanna Sabio Aisha Shillingford Genel Ambrose Faith Robinson Pedro Juan Cruz Cruz Joseph (Solaris) Capehart Kira Joy Williams
SHANNA SABIO, AISHA SHILLINGFORD, GENEL AMBROSE & FAITH ROBINSON The Black Utopia Project: Community. Connection. Change. Brooklyn The Black Utopia Project provides opportunities for rest, reflection, and replenishment to Black femme-identifying residents who have been cultivating their visions of cultural and economic power amongst Black Brooklynites.
PEDRO JUAN CRUZ CRUZ Translocal Exchanges in Roosevelt Avenue Central Queens Translocal Exchanges in Roosevelt Avenue is a wayfinding installation that speaks to the sense of belonging in the immigrant enclaves of Central Queens. The project will take place in the multiple pockets of neighborhood plazas and underutilized lots owned by DOT and NYC Parks but used as small parks and areas of rest.
JOSEPH (SOLARIS) CAPEHART Not in my House: A Multidimensional Attack on Gentrification in Bed-Stuy Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn A free course for residents of Bed-Stuy (natives and transplants) who wish to immerse themselves in the rich Black history of the neighborhood–further inspiring and equipping residents to protect that history from the rampant gentrification that seeks to commodify and erase it.
KIRA JOY WILLIAMS Home is in the Stories Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn An artistic archive comprising portraits and oral histories of Black people that live in Bed-Stuy. In interviews, participants will discuss their experiences of home, while being photographed at and within the community. The goal is to record and memorialize the ways Black people have created different conceptions of home despite being forced into a diasporic existence as a result of the Atlantic slave trade and despite being, in the years since, consistently, systematically unwelcomed in America. In this living archive, historically underrepresented people are amplified and empowered to choose how their record is kept.
2023 Create Change Fellows include: Leslie Mejia Kearah-Armonie Jeudy Fayola Fair Fei Li Hannah Miao Gloria Lau DaeQuan Alexander Collier Maat Silin Anna Parisi Claudia Maturell Katherine Miranda Mica Verendia Marwa Eltahir Steven Anthony Johnson II
For more information about The Laundromat Project, visit laundromatproject.org.
The Laundromat Project is a Black-rooted and POC-led community-based arts organization dedicated to the advancement of artists and residents of New York City as change agents within their own communities. We envision a world in which artists and neighbors in communities of color work together to harness the power of creativity that has the ability to inspire and initiate meaningful change and that generates long-lasting impact. We make sustained investments in growing a community of multiracial, multigenerational, and multidisciplinary artists and neighbors committed to societal change by supporting their artmaking, community building, and leadership development.
Since 2005, The Laundromat Project has directly invested over $1M in over 200 multiracial, multigenerational, and multidisciplinary artists; nearly 90 innovative public art projects; and a creative community hub in Bed-Stuy, while engaging close to 50,000 New Yorkers across the city and beyond. The idea of a laundromat as a primary place for engagement has expanded over time. It now serves as a metaphor for a variety of community settings in which artists and neighbors transform their lives and surroundings. Our programming has evolved to take place in community gardens, public plazas, libraries, sidewalks, local cultural organizations, and other places where people gather.
Comments Off on Announcing the 2023 Create Change Cohort
The Laundromat Project is excited to announce the 2023 cohort of artists and cultural producers selected as participants in our Create Change Artist Development Program! These creators of color will collaborate with communities across New York City to develop and implement projects that deepen trust, build relationships, and leverage the power of creativity for positive social change.
This year’s Create Change Artists-in-Residence and Fellows have a remarkable depth to the type of work they are doing in communities across New York City and in our anchor neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. They remind us that the creativity that sustains communities is built in connection to our histories, our cultures, and to each other, and that it is incredibly important for our art to reflect and capture that.
Faculty for our 18th annual Create Change Artist Development Program includes Ebony Noelle Golden (Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative), Shawnee Benton Gibson (Spirit of a Woman), Urban Bush Women, Kamau Ware (Black Gotham Experience), and Laundromat Project staff, among others.
The LP continues to invest in and support creative cultural producers who are making a positive impact across our city. This year we have awarded between $1,000 and $25,000 each to support the development of their participatory and community-attuned creative projects, as well as provided a network of mentors and peer-support to help advance their creative, community-based work.
Each year we’re increasingly impressed by the breadth of the people and projects that become a part of The LP’s community. Read on to meet them and learn more about their projects!
PEDRO JUAN CRUZ CRUZ Translocal Exchanges in Roosevelt Avenue Central Queens Translocal Exchanges in Roosevelt Avenue is a wayfinding installation that speaks to the sense of belonging in the immigrant enclaves of Central Queens. The project will take place in the multiple pockets of neighborhood plazas and underutilized lots owned by DOT and NYC Parks but used as small parks and areas of rest.
JOSEPH (SOLARIS) CAPEHART Not in my House: A Multidimensional Attack on Gentrification in Bed-Stuy Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn A free course for residents of Bed-Stuy (natives and transplants) who wish to immerse themselves in the rich Black history of the neighborhood–further inspiring and equipping residents to protect that history from the rampant gentrification that seeks to commodify and erase it.
KIRA JOY WILLIAMS Home is in the Stories Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn An artistic archive comprising portraits and oral histories of Black people that live in Bed-Stuy. In interviews, participants will discuss their experiences of home, while being photographed at and within the community. The goal is to record and memorialize the ways Black people have created different conceptions of home despite being forced into a diasporic existence as a result of the Atlantic slave trade and despite being, in the years since, consistently, systematically unwelcomed in America. In this living archive, historically underrepresented people are amplified and empowered to choose how their record is kept.
Meet the 2023 Create Change Fellows.
LESLIE MEJIA Painting, community organizing, education | Mott Haven, Bronx
KEARAH-ARMONIE JEUDY Filmmaking, writing, education, community organizing | Crown Heights, Brooklyn
FAYOLA FAIR Community organizing, education, ceramics, collage | Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
As individuals these artists are each contributing to the preservation of our community stories in the most creative ways. Collectively, they are resisting the erasure that so often comes with gentrification and other adverse efforts that mar the fabric of communities of color. They remind us that the art we produce and observe is the basis for public memory and for advocacy efforts that move the dial forward, which is ever more important in a rapidly-changing city such as New York.
Stay up to date on their work with The Laundromat Project by following us on Instagram.
The 2023 Create Change program cohort was selected by the 2023 Artist & Community Council: Lizania Cruz, Participatory Artist and Designer & 2017-2019 LP Create Change Artist-in-Residence; Solana Chehtman,Director of Artist Programs, Joan Mitchell Foundation; and Dina Wright Joseph, Dancer & Dance Educator.
ABOUT CREATE CHANGE
Established in 2006, The LP’s flagship Create Change Residency program has evolved into a leading artist development model that builds and nourishes creative community leaders. Through the residency, The LP supports three innovative socially engaged creative endeavors across NYC annually. Create Change resident artists develop community-responsive projects that make use of the unique social space of their location.
In 2011, in response to participant feedback, The LP established the Create Change Fellowship to train artists who are newer to a socially engaged creative practice. Each year, the Fellowship provides a select group of diverse creative practitioners with 120+ hours of a combination of workshops (theory) and arts-based community engagement processes (practice), aimed to help them develop, deepen, and enact a community engaged creative practice.
Over the past 18 years, The LP has supported over 200 artists. Alumni of the program include: Tomie Arai, Raul Ayala, Chloë Bass, LaTasha Diggs, Fernanda Espinosa, Rachel Falcone, Sukjong Hong, Rasu Jilani, Shani Peters, Michael Premo, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Betty Yu. The LP aims to foster and support creative community leaders who are empowered by, committed to, and fully conversant in community-attuned art practices.
FUNDERS
The Create Change program is made possible in part by Andy Warhol Foundation; The Bay & Paul Foundations; ; Artha Foundation; Ford Foundation; Jerome Foundation; Materials for the Arts; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Muriel Pollia Foundation; The New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship Program; the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts; and Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. The Create Change Fellowship is supported in part by our Catalyst Circle members—become a Catalyst here.
The Laundromat Project’s Fulton Street Window Commission, now in its second year, invites a Bed-Stuy visual artist to design artwork for a one-year vinyl installation on the main window of our community hub space.
This year, we selected Jazmine Hayes’ work to be displayed at our storefront’s window, and we are excited to share her work with our neighbors and community members! Read on to learn more about Jazmine and her work, “Through Our Hands We Are Guided”, which you can see in-person at The Laundromat Project’s storefront at 1476 Fulton Street in Brooklyn through 2023.
Tell us about yourself and your art practice.
My name is Jazmine Hayes. I’m originally from East New York but grew up very deeply in Bed-Stuy. I’ve been creating art all of my life, whether it was music or visual art. I think as I get older, my art—or whatever I do creatively—feels more and more like a prayer, whether it’s a prayer to my community, a prayer for myself, or a prayer to my ancestors. I work in a range of mediums. I’ve been doing murals for over 11 years working with nonprofit youth arts organizations across New York City.
What is the artwork called?
This piece is titled Through Our Hands We Are Guided.
Jazmine Hayes, Through Our Hands We Are Guided, 2022.
Can you talk a little bit about the hands depicted in the piece?
There are two times I see hands: the hands of the baby and the hands of the woman. So the two times you see hands, they’re actually an intergenerational interaction, right? Thinking of the elders in the community who have built this community, any craftsman, craftsmanship, or crafts work is done with your hands right down to being anointed in church, down to cooking a meal for someone… that’s all a craft done with your hands. We create with our hands, and I think that is a physical manifestation of a prayer. And so Through Our Hands We Are Guided.
Can you tell us a little more about the symbolism in the piece?
A lot of this mural is about gentrification’s effect on Bed-Stuy, and how our culture and our history are still so prevalent, strong, and founded in care and passion. Thinking about how we are rooted in care and love…we’re molded. And so how do we shapeshift wherever we move in the world? How do we shapeshift in our community as it’s changing? That’s why we have the cowrie shells, a divination of where we are being guided to, whether we’re staying in Bed-Stuy or moving out.
The door knocker is like an ode to the hood girl. Beauty supply stores are like our Mecca, the secret of our fashion. So when I think of door knockers, I think about all the jewelry shops down on Fulton Street. Whether you’re going to get your nameplate necklaces, your door knockers, or your fulani earrings—you can also go to the beauty supply store if you can’t afford the jewelry shops. We’ve been shamed and shunned for our hairstyles, our fashion, our long nails, and our earrings. So using the door knockers as halos is kind of like the hood girls are angels, you know, they are the protectors.
The anansi is a symbol of wisdom, but I’m also thinking of the spider. Spiders have eight legs, and eight is a number of abundance. A number of breaking cycles. And thinking on cycles, there’s also a Sankofa bird that represents the past, present, and future. How are we passing down these things to the next generation? What are we taking from the generations before us? How are we present in this moment and what’s happening to Bed-Stuy? Gentrification is hitting us hard, but there’s still such a beautiful community that is not giving up, which I love.
The braids are also like an intergenerational thing, like weaving in our stories and an ode to our culture. You have the young man with the braids in his hair. I wanted to represent that that’s not just something for Black femmes, but it’s also for Black men as well. The patterning on the faces represents mud cloth, thinking of different African patterns or almost like a Pan-African reference to the community.
You have the cowrie shells, the long braid with the brownstones underneath the door knockers, anansi, the Sankofa bird… Where do we go next? Where do we stay? How? How are we founded and grounded?
Anything else?
The Black family. You have so many people who have migrated from the South, who have migrated from the Caribbean, and we all meet in this community, and we’re just all one family. You know, these are different aspects of healing, different aspects of prayer, and I wanted to represent that in this piece.
Jazmine Hayes, Through Our Hands We Are Guided, detail, 2022.
What do healing and wellness look like to you?
Plant life is healing. I think what’s beautiful about Bed-Stuy is that you can walk past the stoops in the summertime or certain gardens and you just see plants flourishing. You see the monstera plants, the taro plants, sunflowers, and all the trees, etc. Sometimes that’s the most nature we get in such a concrete city. Wellness is about your spirit and how you treat others. What’s your relationship with yourself? I think most times our relationship with self, it’s always going to affect how we treat others. And when you have a good relationship with yourself, you treat others with that same respect.
What do you hope that people take away from this piece?
I like to have little secrets and symbols in the piece. So I like for people to walk past it and be like, “Oh, wait, I didn’t notice this part of the piece the other day.” I wanted to speak to them in those ways where it causes them to stop and just be present in that moment. Do you see yourself in this piece? Do you relate to it in any way? Most of all, I want people to take away joy from the piece. It can be a part of their daily walk, and like, “Oh, I’m excited to see this piece when I’m walking by The Laundromat Project on Fulton Street.”
What do you love about Bed-Stuy?
What I love about Bed-Stuy are the people and the resources. You have Restoration Plaza, you have the spiritual shops, you got the herbal shops. I’m half Trini, so I love doubles! I really love the community and the mom-and-pop shops. I love all of that still exists in Bed-Stuy, even as new businesses are opening. They also still have a very homely feel like they’ve been here for a long time.
What do you enjoy about making art?
Telling stories. I enjoy telling stories in my artwork. I enjoy talking to different people. I enjoy hearing other stories. My artwork allows me to explore histories I didn’t know. So all of my projects are very research-based. When you start to ask more questions, you start to find out so much more. I enjoy that process a lot in my practice and in artwork in general.
What do you hope to achieve through this project in the long run?
I would like for this to grow with The Laundromat Project as an archival project of voice recordings of different people who have lived in Bed-Stuy for a long period of time–Black-owned businesses, old and new, etc… It’s really a historical project for me, documenting our history because our histories often aren’t. I would like people to take away from this artwork that I don’t know where you come from, but I know where you’re going. Honor yourself. Honor your truth. So if you’re from Bed-Stuy–honor that, take that wherever you go. I’m from East New York and Bed-Stuy. So I take that wherever I go. Honor your truth.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jazmine Hayes is an interdisciplinary artist born, raised and based in Brooklyn, New York. She received an MFA from CUNY Hunter College and a BFA from CUNY Queens College. Her practice explores histories of the African diaspora and the ways they are preserved and reproduced through cultural traditions. Through this exploration, Hayes works across an array of mediums such as installation, painting, drawing, performance, video, sound, textile and writing. Hayes has been featured in Art Forum, Interview Magazine, Artnet, and several other publications. For over 10 years, she has worked with community-based youth organizations across New York City as an educator and muralist with non-profits such as Groundswell Mural, Artistic Noise, and Made in Brownsville. She believes in the accessibility of art resources for the development of Black and Brown youth. She has recently been awarded a U.S. Fulbright for the year of 2022-2023 to travel abroad to Senegal.
Kemi Ilesanmi has been the Executive Director of The Laundromat Project for ten years. What we’ve been able to accomplish as a community under her leadership is a reflection of her vision, dedication and love. We are so grateful to her and wish her well on her next adventure. Read on for her official farewell.
From left to right: Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong, Ibi Ibrahim, Kemi Ilesanmi, Ayesha Williams, Kendra J. Ross, Jamel Burgess
Audre Lorde reminds us, “Without community, there is no liberation.” As I transition out of my role of Executive Director at The Laundromat Project, I feel profoundly fortunate to have found such a nourishing community here and to work towards our liberation within it. Indeed, The LP family has been part of my NYC story from the very beginning.
I met the incredible founder Risë Wilson at a mutual friend’s brunch just two weeks after I moved to the city. In that first conversation, she dazzled me with her beautiful idea to bring art, community, and justice together in everyday spaces. That was fall 2004, and I was immediately intrigued. A year later, I joined The LP’s founding board, and seven years after that I became our first full-time and paid Executive Director.
As LP employee #2, I have worked with dozens of passionate, dedicated and hard working board members, staff, interns, and consultants, as well as supported over 300 incredible artists, neighbors, partners, thinkers, dreamers, activists, instigators and creators. Collectively, they make the world more just and more beautiful every day – just by being themselves. In turn, they have inspired me to seek more joy, ask harder questions, raise my fists higher, and to love more fiercely… because it matters for all of us. Thank you.
This community has taught me what it means to live our LP values out loud.
In other words, this community has taught me what it means to live our LP values out loud. Through them, I have learned so much more about art, politics, commitment, accountability, connection, legacy, abundance, and radical love. That is exactly the toolkit that will be needed as The LP moves through our leadership transition and further into the work of building an enduring arts institution grounded in community. One of our guiding organizational beliefs is that art and creativity can change strangers into neighbors whose collective efforts can change the world. As we make our home in Bed-Stuy, I am certain that our circle of artists, neighbors, and friends will keep finding bold ways to deepen the ties that make a place a home.
To continue manifesting this work, just as Risë passed it to me, I now pass The LP baton to Ayesha Williams as the next Executive Director of The Laundromat Project. During her job interview as Deputy Director six-and-a-half years ago, I asked her the usual interview questions until she said, “Don’t let the fancy places fool you — Lincoln Center, Chelsea gallery, etc. — I can do the scrappy work, too. And I want to do that for our people at The LP.” The rest is history. Hiring Ayesha was my best decision in 10 years of leading The LP. Full stop. She has the big heart, clear vision, and creative spirit to take The LP even further. I’m so excited for our future.
Thank You, LP, for 10 years, 17 years… indeed, a lifetime of gifts. Thank you for being my forever home. I promise to remember all that you have taught me and to carry on the work towards our collective liberation. Once LP Fam, always LP fam. Ashé.
— Kemi Ilesanmi, Outgoing Executive Director of The Laundromat Project
