Visual Resistance

Hello all, for those of you who have noticed, or havn’t, VR has been inactive online for quite some time now. I would like to apologize, if you have returned to the blog more than once and discovered the same post since July.

We havent been maintaining the blog, not because there isnt anything interesting happening, quite the opposite. The collective has been dealing with some growing pains and has been involved other projects. We have been busy in our lives, moving out of apartments, living in other cities, finding new jobs, quitting old ones, traveling around the world, on bike, train, or raft, starting new relationships, ending old ones, starting new groups, and combining forces.

We have been working on a variety of things since we’ve spoken last. One was a mural project with the Groundswell Mural Project and Transportation Alternatives.

The mural and relationship grew out of the memorial work of the ghost bikes and pedestrian memorials that we have been installing the last few years. Our friend Christopher Cardinale and Nicole Schulman were the lead artists, and directed an awesome group of teenagers in creating a really impressive tribute to 3 children that were killed by automobiles in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

I respect the format Groundswell uses to facilitate these projects, launching 6 this summer. They work with the community, businesses, neighborhood groups, and residents, to create an image that reflects the feelings of the people in the neighborhood. In this case the theme was relative to the dangers pedestrians and cyclists face on a heavily trafficked Third Avenue.

The teens involved, designed signs that they thought should be posting in our neighborhoods. Then the Department of Transformation made sure that they were posted along the avenue leading to the mural. Some of the designs ended up in the mural design itself.

The mural and its dedication became an opportunity for the families to grieve the loss of a loved one and a moment to demand better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists of NYC . Some folks took initiative and painted lines in the street to illustrate the “bulb outs” of the sidewalk, that have allready been proposed by the city, for this avenue. Playful images were also stencilled in the street, and plants were used to create a physical barrier and illustrate safer alternatives to the existing madness.

The mural is in Brooklyn at 3rd ave and Butler St. if you are able to, its worth checking out. Also worth checking out is the new Justseeds Visual Resistance Artists Cooperative site!

Thanks to Dan for letting me use some of the fotos above!