Hello all!
It has been a long time since I've written anything. Graduate school and all of my feelings keep me quite busy. In this post I'm going to talk about my experience with Ferguson. I'll give you some back story and then go into why this is relevant right now.
Through my professor who is connected to some other people and organizations in Ferguson, I was given the opportunity to volunteer and paint murals on some of the boarded up buildings in Ferguson. I'd been looking for a way to serve Ferguson in some way and this just felt right. Prior to this, I really struggled to find a way to be part of what was happening in Ferguson. On the one hand, rioting seemed appropriate to me. A child is dead. His life matters. And he'd be alive if he weren't black. On the other hand, destroying someone's home and/or business is not an act of progressive politics. On the theoretical level it does, it totally does. But my theory went flying out the window when I heard the stories of the people who were truly terrified for their safety because of the violence happening around them. I didn't know know where I fit, if any where. What right did I have to be part of this? I'm not even from here. I'd lived in St. Louis all of 24 hours when Michael Brown was killed.
Painting murals was an incredible experience. I did a lot of volunteer work in back home and I really hadn't done any since moving. It felt good to be doing that again. To read more about it and see pictures, switch over to the blog I keep for our art therapy club at school by clicking here. I'll also add some pictures to the bottom.
Tonight I went to a reception at Ferguson Brewing Company for all of the volunteers who had participated in efforts in Ferguson. Shortly after the day that I painted, a woman started collecting photos from volunteers for a book she was putting together. The book is out and available for purchase, click here. Anyway, they were selling books at the reception. I thumbed through a copy of someone's book and decided that instant that I needed my own even though I'm trying not to spend any money right now. As I was reading the book and looking through the pictures I really started getting choked up. I can't even recount all my thoughts to you because there were so many and they were coming so fast. I felt deeply burdened by a young man's death. I was also simultaneously moved by how many people had come together to make Ferguson not look so desolate and devastated after all the rioting. I saw people around the room that I painted with or near and felt so connected to them. We shared a unique moment in time, aligning our hearts and hands to better this little community. I didn't know any of them, yet I knew so much about them, and we shared this profound moment. It was a strange, sacred feeling. This feeling, this feeling exactly, is why I'm interested in community art.
There was also a camera and camera chick set up in the corner of the room who was recording people talking about their experiences. I got choked up for that too. I know I cry all the time but how could I not? I spoke about how it felt strange to me that people in the community were so grateful for what we were doing and so thankful and that that was strange because I felt like I was there for them, but they were thanking me.
It was a lovely evening being back in my feelings for Ferguson. My feelings are strong and often contradictory, but just like the day when we painted I was left with the overwhelming certainty that life is often tragic but good people are always around.
0 comments:
Post a Comment