Community Storytelling

Latin America

Bringing communities together to articulate a shared history is at the heart of Brenda's conceptualization of a "social sculpture." These processes have spanned many decades and geographical regions for refinement and exploration. Starting an artist-in-residence position at the Rieckan Foundation through the Creative Action Institute in Guatemala where she worked for a year promoting library use as a force of effective democratic process through collaborative community arts but found the unaddressed effects of trauma from genocide, mass torture and their consequent impunity prevented far more urgent. The following year the artist received another grant from the Indigenous Support Network to continue on in Guatemala working exclusively with war widows and affected Indigenous youth in the area to tell their story publicly in the face of social forces seeking to suppress it. The grant led her to work transforming a former clandestine grave site into a monument reflecting the stories of the community at large in paertnership with Grupo Apoyo Mutuo and the Franciscan order. Young people actively advocated for Indigenous controlled school systems to protect Mayan ways of thinking, being and definitions of literacy by taking over a football field length mural wall. Generally the rest are kids having fun and making stuff that makes them happy. Ask me about it in person if you're curious

Urban Indigenous Communities

Please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7s8bd7k6eo This video and slides detail a mural painted by students of Escuela Tlatelolco in conjunction with undocumented day laborers on the Northern wall of El Centro Humanitario off Park Avenue between California and Welton streets. The mural speaks to the reality, dignity, and Indigenous ancestry the greater Latino community. Interviews with day laborers resulted in student sketches that then provided the basis of the design. The final collaborative piece displays a migrant family on top of Incan serpents lifting up the weight of the world with the help of the community members. The community holds chains connected to migrant workers in the fields on the western side and a guitar surrounded by calla lillies to the east. Young people stitch the continents of the world together with thread from spools positioned laterally representative of collective efforts towards healing and reconciliation, further symbolized by the child releasing a dove with joyfully outstretched arms from atop his parents’ shoulders. Above, an anatomical heart wrapped in chains forms the centerpiece of the mural which came from a student’s father who, while detained and awaiting deportation, sent his son the design stating “everyone has the same heart and wants to do good and be free but we are chained by money, nationality, and circumstance.” This idea is further developed in the lower part of the mural wherein the fire coming from the serpents’ mouths burn a scale of injustice and a piggy bank denies help to a starving man. Two figures work to smash the piggy bank: one with a paintbrush signifying creativity and the other with a gavel signifying just legislation. On the other side a pregnant woman holds up the scales of justice and strikes down the unbalanced scale that favors money over human beings. Behind the work gears turn upon which the words “Sin nosotros el mundo se detiene/ Without us the world stops turning” speaking to the millions of workers who make society run without recognition. Throughout the mural students placed symbols of freedom (the pair of large white wings) and happiness (the rainbow) and painted their own likenesses onto the characters on the wall. Throughout symbols of the students’ indigenous ancestry are visible: the Aztec symbol of the four directions above the guitar, the Native American four directions above the Denver skyline, the Incan serpents, and Mayan nahual. Each student adopted one of the characters in the mural to identify their part in the greater struggle the mural symbolizes and signed their name by the figures while taking part in a traditional Aztec blessing ceremony The second piece (http://youtu.be/uESfhNUMkSA) depicts a collective poem written by students of Escuela Tlatelolco and La Raza Youth Leadership Council. The poem was set to music with the collaboration of the Youth On Record team and illustrated along the 3500 block of Pecos in Denver, CO adjacent to the Pecos Community Center. Click the above link to hear the final recorded piece wherein students read their original spoken word compositions. I come from a Heavy dark sky blue Sirens gunshots and dogs barking Skate Parks Desolate buildings higher than the sky cars whooshing by voices bouncing off walls….. Denver growing day by day beneath a bright full moon From people who dream of peace I come from: Painted faces and sundried hats I come from: Hatchets and shovels in blistered hands I come from: Low wages and extra hours I come from: Saddened and rejected workers: From people who dream of a better life I come from: Airports that look like a lot of tents put together full of windows and light Silver barbed wire whose touch equals pain Stars, Christmas Lights, darkening sky with decorations everywhere Green Yellow Red and Orange chilis My family in New Mexico From people who dream of being closer I come from: Waterfalls that feel like cold crystals crashing into your hands An island of boats and trees water and sun Trees moist dark brown full of green leaves brushing against each other I come from: Women who ride their lives down the road less traveled… realizing the beauty through all the bumps and cracks: the millions of feet that have walked through this neighborhood. Aztecs, Inca, Maya: Inventors Scientists Architects and Artists From people who dream of seeing new things I come from The Apache African Great Grandfathers Geronimo, Medicine Men The Maya Smokey Aztec rituals in the plaza of Mexico City From ancient pyramids Machu Pichu And Hundreds of people ready for battle I come from: Dawn and the smell of night Soft colors purple and pink: the great peace that the sky brings everyday Watching time pass by a river that looks like ribbons floating cambia de color depende por donde mires… claro… oscuro.. blanco.. Graffiti del color negro and diamond shaped fences I come from a broken blue door From people who dream of opportunity I come from………… Maiz de diferentes tipos de colores de muchos lugares El Salvador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, California Hopes and dreams for change Gente fiestando el triunfo de un partido de futbol: espuma confetti Family who fought alongside Pancho Villa The Alamo and A broken blue door From people who dream for their children

Migrant Justice

The illustrations were created for two volumes of poetry published at the Bread and Roses Publishing Cooperative. The first, “30 Poemas Para la Gente Sencilla,” written by poet Juan Patraca, details the immigrant and migrant worker experience in the USA. The second, “From the Web: An Anthology of Women’s Political Poetry,” anthologized and edited by Jessica Newman, contains poetry written by women from around the globe highlighting overlooked female narratives and poetic perspectives on social justice issues. Mural projects supporting immigrant rights took place as part of larger community campaigns to promote solidarity with the undocumented community and recognition of a common immigrant background

Poet Wall

Please watch the following video! http://vimeo.com/73514281 Please watch the following video! http://vimeo.com/73514281 The consistent flow of helpful and encouraging foot traffic: families reading poems to their children, joggers slowing down to enjoy the new color added to their part of the city, and individuals getting off the RTD buses in order to pitch in and volunteer unprompted are some of my favorite memories from the Queen City of the Plains Mural. Many people I had never met before kindly stabilized my ladder or took the time to help haul paint out of my car en route to starting or ending their days. There is something about community projects that draw out the goodwill that people carry with them waiting to offer to the world. The mural contains poetry from many sources that celebrate not only our Denver history but also our present day artists. The wall overcomes many of the racial divisions that mark, to this day, the racially divided poetry community of Denver drawing from the work of poets writing for and from the Latino,African American, Indigenous as well as settler peoples. The follow excerpts are included on the wall: Ted Vaca “ Denver Queen city of the Plains lift high our spirits sing well our praise for in you we live and are loved” Please watch the following video! http://vimeo.com/73514281

Intimate Partner Violence

Motus Theatre

The mission of Motus Theater is to create original theater to facilitate dialogue on critical issues of our time. We aim to use the power of art to build alliances across diverse segments of our community and country. It was an honor to support Do You Know Who I Am?: a theatre project promoting greater recognition of the rights of DACA dreamers through representative monologue theatre. As well as Rocks Karma Arrows bringing to consciousness the colonial history of the Denver Region through critical examination of street names and landmarks of a conveniently erased violent colonial history. Both projects sought to awaken critical consciousness in our greater Colorado community and solidarity across gradients of oppression and discrimination

Group Art Therapy

After a lifetime doing this there are just too many projects to document... Here is one of many

DPS

with students in a local area high school dropout re-engagement program. Faced with high gang membership, insufficient parental support and poverty common to the Denver public school system, students worked together to identify values they wanted to practice in their learning community. After identifying their core values of accomplishment, respect, caring, purpose, integrity and courage, the students created original poetry, stencils, and paintings o in a mural spanning the school’s entrance-way.