NYCHA Youth Design Group Art Exhibit Explores Immigration, Violence, And Mental Health

The Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) are pleased to announce the opening of Testify, a youth-designed public art exhibit in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Testify explores the trials and triumphs of New Yorkers as they recount experiences spanning challenges with immigration, violence, mental health, and COVID-19. The exhibit's design and installation was led by artist Sophia Dawson through her year-long Public Artist in Residence (PAIR) partnership with DCLA and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ).

Testify features audio recordings and photographs of eleven interview subjects, objects, and places meaningful to youth artists who live in NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments across the five boroughs. The artists were selected from a cohort of fifty participants in the inaugural 2021 ONS Youth Leadership Council (YLC). Over the course of nine months, young people ages 16-21 joined YLC to explore self-narratives, group identity, and social justice issues by utilizing a range of multimedia tools. The cohort will present Testify, their culminating project, on a sidewalk shed at Brownsville Houses as part of a series of art installations in public housing communities citywide through City Canvas.

City Canvas is a pilot initiative of DCLA to transform temporary protective structures into platforms for community-centered art exhibitions. Through City Canvas, DCLA, NYCHA, NYC Department of Buildings, and ArtBridge to bring temporary visual art exhibits to the city's public housing communities. The installation is made possible in part by funding through the American Rescue Plan via the City Artist Corps.

WHERE: 307 Blake Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11212, 3:00PM - 5:00PM

WHEN: Thursday, April 28, 2022

CONTACT: Tamara Greenfield: +1 (646) 576-3516