Street art as a social justice practice
Street art and public art installation has been at the heart of my social justice work for over a decade. Projects were produced in collaboration with photographers in Afghanistans, with community in Colorado, and between multi—generational wildlife conservation activists installed globally. Projects were installed secretly during the COVID lockdown to get the community through tough times. Projects were created raise awareness in public spaces around stalking, extinction, racism, and, culture.
Streets of Afghanistan
Streets of Afghanistan is a life-sized, art installation that highlights the beauty and soul of Afghanistan while challenging existing stereotypes of the war-torn country. A ground-breaking collaboration of Afghan and foreign photographers through life-sized photography that was initially premiered in Colorado before traveling to Afghanistan as a pop-up exhibition in a series of public spaces in 2012-2014. The exhibition was donated to the ACKU archvies at Kabul University. A book documenting the project of the same name, Streets of Afghanistan, was published by Hatherleigh Press in 2013.
Black Lives Matter Mural
In the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country. So did a series of road murals, claiming space, and engaging communities. The town of Frisco, Colorado engaged with an enormous road mural in front of Town Hall and the police headquarters as a collaboration with Colorado mural artists and local community members to engage in conversation around systemic racism in the mountain communities. The mural exposed deep-seated racism and led to intersectional community dialogues and policy changes at the Town Council.
