Featured Media Resource: [VIDEO] The Oakland Superheroes Mural Project
The Attitudinal Healing Connection in West Oakland created the first large scale mural beautification and revitalization project in their community. More than 105 middle school children worked with artists on the project. One of the lead artists, Antonio Ramos, was fatally shot earlier this month while working on the mural.
Do Now
Can art be a strategy communities use to resist a culture of violence? How can public art, like community-created murals, help create positive change? What other forms of community art can you imagine? #DoNowHealing
How to Do Now
To respond to the Do Now, you can comment below or post your response on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, Flickr, Google +, etc. Just be sure to include @KQEDedspace and #DoNowHealing in your posts.
Go here for best practices for using Do Now, using Twitter for teaching and using other digital tools.
Learn More About the Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project
The recent murder of Bay Area artist Antonio Ramos stunned his West Oakland community. At the time he was fatally shot, Ramos was at work painting the Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project (OSH), a community development effort by Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) in Oakland that has engaged 105 local middle school students to be change agents in their community. According to the OSH website, the project’s purpose is “to resolve issues that plague our city, create over 80 jobs, enhance our neighborhoods and reduce blight.”
Gun violence is one of the most pressing issues in Oakland: there have been over 70 homicides as of October 2015–many of them in the Western part of the city. This is well above the national average. West Oakland residents have consistently organized to speak out against the rise of gun violence, much of it gang-related. Many blame the lack of police presence, job training, and after-school programs in their community.
There is tragic irony in Antonio Ramos’ death at the hands of a still-unidentified gunman. His friends and colleagues on the mural project describe him as a talented and dedicated artist who was passionate about using art as a way to resist violence. According to a KQED article, AHC Executive Director Amana Harris described Ramos as “a really good kid who loved art” and was sadly a victim of the violence he sought to end through his work.
His fellow artists, and the youth working on the project, have all continued to work on the mural. The painting, which spreads across 4,000 square feet of underpass wall, portrays children as heroic, larger-than-life figures overseeing and caring for their community. “We will be dedicating this wall to Antonio Ramos,” Harris said. “And we will not stop. We will not be intimidated to bring light and love and hope into our communities.”
More Resources
LESSON PLAN: “A Guide for Teaching about Gun Violence and Gun Control” [KQED’s The LowDown]
The following guide suggests balanced ways for teachers to explore and navigate the highly-charged political and emotional issues behind the topic of gun control and gun violence.
VIDEO: “JR’s TED Prize Wish: Use Art to Turn the World Inside Out” [TEDTalks Series]
JR, a semi-anonymous French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face, by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases. At TED2011, he makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. Learn more about his work and learn how you can join in at insideoutproject.net.
VIDEO: “Bay Area Hip Hop: The Next Generation” [KQED Arts]
Bay Area hip hop dancers Alex Flores and Marthy Galimba talk about how their moves were inspired to resisting gang violence in the neighborhoods where they grew up, and is a positive creative outlet for youth in their communities.
VIDEO: “Oakland’s Teen Singing Champs Channel Kanye, Mumford” [KQED Arts]
Oakland School for the Arts’ singing group Vocal Rush has been a powerhouse on the national a cappella circuit since its founding four years ago. The 11 high school students of the 2014-2015 group wanted to make a special point in this year’s ICHSA competition in New York. So they dedicated their effort to Black Lives Matter, a national movement founded in 2013 to challenge police killings and other disparities African Americans face.
VIDEO: “Mission District Street Art” [KQED’s Spark series]
San Francisco’s Mission District is home to a high concentration of street art, bearing witness to an artistic community as vibrant as it is diverse. Spark takes a tour through the Mission’s famous decorated streets.
VIDEO: Social Action Art with Amy Franceschini (KQED Art School)
This episode of Art School features Franceschini in her Mission District studio that also serves as the headquarters for Futurefarmers, an international collective of artists, bakers, architects and other builders. Listen in as she talks about working collaboratively and making work that encourages dialogue and exchange.
Do Next
Do Next takes the online conversation to the next level: these are suggestions for ways to go out into your community and investigate how the topic featured in this Do Now impacts people’s lives. Use digital storytelling tools and social media to share your story and take action. Make sure to tag your creations with #DoNowHealing.
- Create an Instagram, Vine, or other video: Create a series of short Instagram, Vine, or other shareable videos that capture art in your community that contains a message about violence or social justice. Share your videos with #DoNowHealing
- Create a Sketch for a Mural Project: Draw or take a photo of a concept for a mural for your community. Share on social media with a short, easy-to-understand explanation of what it represents. Tag with #DoNowHealing
- Interview a Local Artist: Produce a short video portrait, or narrated photo slideshow, of an artist in your community whose work you feel attempts to create social change. This person could be a visual artist, a dancer, a musician, or practice any other form of creative expression. Share your video with #DoNowHealing
This Do Now was a collaboration between KQED Education and BAVC’s NextGen program and was presented as part of a workshop at the Teachers 4 Social Justice Conference in San Francisco.