Greetings from Our Holyoke

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Ethan Fletcher
5 years ago
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Greetings from Our Holyoke Greetings from Our Holyoke You ve seen them the ubiquitous, glossy rectangles tucked into spinning racks at tourist sites and convenience stores across the globe: the

When cities are represented as a collection of glossy images, much is left out. Day-to-day experiences and places that shape regular lives are overlooked.

The intersection of these two observations generated the ongoing public-art project called Greetings from MY City, which celebrates the diversity of a city s unique people and places through a series

In an effort to engage the communities at the heart of this exploration, young students are given disposable cameras to create photo essays that depict the spirit of their communities.

tour guides or postcards; often these neighborhoods are entirely left off the map. The students learn about cameras, composition, and careful observation.

1 Greetings from Our Holyoke Greetings from Our Holyoke You ve seen them the ubiquitous, glossy rectangles tucked into spinning racks at tourist sites and convenience stores across the globe: the Important Monument, the Historical Site, the Beautiful Park, the Famous Building. Postcards provide the images that depict a sense of place. Or do they? When cities are represented as a collection of glossy images, much is left out. Day-to-day experiences and places that shape regular lives are overlooked. And yet, as photographs, postcards are also a uniquely accessible public-art form. But they re rarely intellectualized or critiqued, and often for good reason. The intersection of these two observations generated the ongoing public-art project called Greetings from MY City, which celebrates the diversity of a city s unique people and places through a series of new postcard designs. In an effort to engage the communities at the heart of this exploration, young students are given disposable cameras to create photo essays that depict the spirit of their communities. Whether defined by racial identity, architectural style, urban density, landscape, class, or culture, the home neighborhoods of these students include places rarely, if ever, seen in conventional tour guides or postcards; often these neighborhoods are entirely left off the map. The students learn about cameras, composition, and careful observation. They learn about their city through mapping exercises. They discuss their own special places, and the public s perception of those places, as projected in the media and reflected in community services. Only then do they venture out to document their neighborhoods. Afterward, through a guided process, they select photographs to be printed as postcards, honing their graphic skills and exploring how ideas are conveyed through visual media. Their selections are then curated by the project directors, who also design the message area of each card to include a full city map and a caption identifying the student photographer. What results is a series of real postcards, sold in stores throughout the city. More profound is the resulting sense of ownership and pride in the community s uniqueness a pride shared by the student photographers and by the residents who view and use these cards. The images included here reflect the most recent workshop with a sixthgrade social-studies class at John J. Lynch Middle School in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Additional projects have been undertaken in Boston and are in development in Springfield, Massachusetts; San Francisco; and Washington, DC. Greetings from Our Holyoke A school-based public-art project explores overlooked places. What could be more important to the community than the way their youth see that community? Ronnie McCoy Sixth-grade social-studies teacher Gretchen Schneider AIA and Erika Zekos, Assoc. AIA are the founders and directors of the Greetings from MY City project. The project has been funded by grants from the Boston Foundation for Architecture, the Kahn Institute at Smith College, and the American Institute of Architects Blueprint for America Project through Western Mass/AIA; it has also benefitted from collaboration with Citizen Schools and the South Boston Fourth Presbyterian Church Music and Art Program. 34 ab ArchitectureBoston Color photographs, clockwise from top left: John; Tylasia; Jose. All grayscale photos courtesy the authors.

4 Color photographs, clockwise from top left: Veronica; Amber; Veronica. Summer 2009 ab 37

5 38 ab ArchitectureBoston Color photographs, clockwise from top left: Jordyn; Bianca; Alexandria.

6 Summer 2009 ab 39

7 40 ab ArchitectureBoston Color photographs, clockwise from left: Amber; Jose; Madaline.

8 Summer 2009 ab 41

The Past and Present in Photographs

This project was made possible through the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant for Museum and Library Collaboration The Past and Present in Photographs This activity complements