defining community

According to the most recent survey, the Braybrook community centre attracts quite a culturally diverse group with members hailing from countries like India, Bangladesh, Burma, Russia, Japan and many more. The survey revealed a 83.5% female population, almost 70% over 55 year-olds, and 75.2% attend the Centre weekly for activities such as bingo, line dancing, Tai chi and of course the community gardens. As the artists are conceptualizing their ideas, the targered audience or community plays a very important role in that thinking. It’s important that the community relates to the artwork on some level and feel a connection to the message behind the work. The hope is that if the community feels the work relates to them, they take ownership. If they take ownership they protect it. If they protect it then it becomes part of the fabric of the community. BUT how an artist defines a community may differ from how a community chooses to define itself. These neuances can sometimes determine the success of a project.

In 1988, New York artist John Ahearn was commissioned to create a series of sculptures for a courtyard outside a police station in the South Bronx. At the time, the South Bronx was fraught with the problems associated with poverty like drugs, violence and derelict properties. Ahearn, a resident of the South Bronx himself was known for making casts of people in the neighborhood. After a long commissioning process his concept was approved and eventually, in 1992, he made three casts of area residents: Daleesha, Raymond and his dog Toby, and Corey.The bronze sculptures, mounted on pedestals, sparked a controversy throughout the community of the South Bronx over the appropriateness of these images as public art. Daleesha was a street kid; Raymond a junkie, and Corey a hustler. While the models for these characters were black, Ahearn is white. The sculptures were removed after a few days.

Corey

Daleesha

Raymond and his dog Toby