Make the Road NY, K. Sarrantonio, MFA Printmaking 2018

I have settled back in New York City and jumped right in with Mateo, the organizer at Make the Road New York who is hosting my screenprinting project. I worked with Mateo last year to build a screenprinting shop in the basement of the Queens office of the organization. One of the most exciting and challenging elements of this years project is that we are planning to expand across the boroughs to teach screenprinting workshops to the Youth Power Project participants in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Long Island as well as Queens. Screenprinting is not the most typically the most mobile art practice so this will be an exciting endeavor.

In addition to the Youth Power Projects we have plans to print with Make the Road’s adult leadership school and to do an outdoor print event at Bushwick pride.

So far I have spent my time working from Queens connecting with the various youth leaders to help them develop designs with the youth at the various locations. The biggest challenge has been scheduling with so many different people in different places. I imagine as the project develops we will end up taking different approaches depending on the the number of youth at each location and the amount of time they can spare.

One of the highlights of this week was attending the 7th Annual TransLatinx march hosted by Make the Road. Last year I did a screenprinting workshop with the TransLatinx group that meets at the office so it was great to see familiar faces and feel the energy of that powerful community. Many of the Youth Power Project members also attended the march and it was a good space to talk to them about the designs they are working on for our project.

As designs slowly come together Mateo passes them along to me so I can prepare them for printing. For example this image was made in pencil by the Adult Leadership school. In order for us to eventually expose it to a screen before our printing day with them in two weeks I opened the image in photoshop to make it grayscale, to bolden the lines, capitalize the “D” at Mateo’s suggestion and space the words apart a little. I have been doing a lot of similar work the past few days.

I am looking forward to next week when I will begin preparing the silkscreens in the basement printshop. This will require stretching new mesh around the frames with a staple gun and coating them with photo-emulsion. Depending on the availability of the Queens youth, those who are especially interested in learning the complete process of screenprinting will join me to stretch and coat screens.

Karam House Istanbul |Sara Naja | MArch ’19

Landing in Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, I was both nervous and excited about my upcoming internship with Karam Foundation. I had never been to Turkey and was curious about the culture and environment. Istanbul turned out to be a bigger city than I had imagined, spread across the Bosphorus with an Asian side and a European side. The Karam offices are located on the European side, quite a commute from touristic areas and the Asian side. Overall Istanbul has over 15 million inhabitants and I could certainly feel them around me at all times. The amount of people is truly overwhelming, and I say that having grown up in a dense and crowded city.

Karam Foundation is a non-profit organization based in the US and operating internationally. One of their many projects is Karam House, a STEAM based workspace for refugee kids. There is a Karam House in Reyhanli, Turkey and the organization is soon going to launch Karam House Istanbul as part of a larger plan to expand to Jordan and Lebanon too. Before my arrival, the team had already located a building to be transformed into Karam House Istanbul. The building is a four story house that is classified as a historic building, meaning modifications are limited to the existing structure and spaces. I have been helping design the space and prep it for the upcoming launch. The internship started out by visiting the building with the team to assess the space. Going room by room, we allocated the required functions within the spaces and discussed where some construction is needed. During the course of the first couple of weeks, we met with the landlord and lawyer to get approval on the changes that were to be done. We also visited furniture stores to get an idea of prices and manage the budget and our expectations appropriately. Simultaneously, I worked on developing the drawings of the building and organizing the spaces. Interviews were also being conducted for staff positions as well as construction staff, in which I participated at times. It has been exciting to be a part of the team that works on different aspects of Karam House at once. The pressure has been significant with the launch scheduled in September, however the people and the city are both inspiring.

For the time being, I work out of the office with the team. They are mostly Syrians that have been living in Turkey for the past few years. They work in a positive atmosphere despite the pressures of adapting to a new culture and the stress of constant work. They have been very welcoming and helped me fit right in, even offering tips and suggestions on important places to visit in the city and how to navigate it efficiently. Over the weekend, I took some time to visit some architectural landmarks. I visited the Blue Mosque as well as the Haghia Sophia. As an architect, I was fascinated with the structure and the attention to detail during the design of these mosques. I also spent some time walking the busy streets and the famous Istiklal Street, where I found plenty of inspiration for both Karam House and my ongoing work at RISD.

Beginning | Women’s Campaign International | Kalina Winters ’18 BFA PT

I have been in Philly for 11 days now acclimating very fast. Everyone along the way has been extraordinarily kind and helpful; as I was navigating the subway here, I accidentally left the station at the wrong stop and the transit employee let me back in for free. 🙂

My project has had a few changes which was predicted, however the shape is something completely foreign to me. I had originally proposed to host an art exhibition and now I am in charge of a symposium for 4 artists here in Philly. I really think this is the best thing that could have happened (right now anyways) because I now am forced to learn a new format in which to give the ideas of my art practice to an audience. Along the way though, I have met many arts organizers and artists who have given me resources and encouraging words to not only make my symposium happen at the end of august,  but my original proposal for an art exhibition as well.

The NGO I’m working with, Women’s Campaign International, has been very supportive of my project, but one struggle I have is that in their nonstop dedication and effort to their various missions around the globe, I am taking on some of the office work to meet deadlines. The problem isn’t that I have to be doing the extra work, but I want to help them so badly because their causes seem so much more important than what I’m doing!!! For example; They are working with Bill Siemering (who helped start NPR, and All Things Considered), in Tanzania to set up a radio network that is all female operated and all female broadcasters. 80% of farm workers in Tanzania are female, and this would be content for these women BY these women, giving them technological skills they can build off of and use for whatever they like in the future.

I Currently have 2 Philly based women identifying artists who have agreed to be on the panel:

Holly Trostle Brigham and Melissa Joseph.

I have met with them both and they are <3 absolute S2 dumplings <3 🙂

They have deep roots in art institutions so for balance I am currently working on finding some craft/outsider artists, or women who have never been to an art institution/are less established.

For now its a whirlwind of tasks and research that seems endless, but Something kindof beautiful happened yesterday that made me feel really good: I had just gotten back from NY by bus, and upon arriving back to Philadelphia, I was greeted with a gospel choir singing on the Independence Hall Lawn. I got off the bus and walked 20 feet to the concert where I sat and enjoyed the music (and honestly cried a little because music just really moves me and I was exhausted from NY). The experience left me even more in love with Philadelphia then before, and feeling so happy fortunate to be where I am and doing what I’m doing.

Destination Diaspora | African Alliance of Rhode Island | Nakeia Medcalf | MDes ’18

Traditional Jamaican Meal prepared by the Maroon chief, served in a calabash.

To further the conversation of Afrofuturism and the Afrofuture, I traveled to Charles Town Jamaica to attend and present at the Tenth Annual Charles Town International Maroon Conference, Maroons and Indigenous Peoples: Towards a Sustainable Future.

The Maroons, much like the Exodusters were some of the first Afrofuturists. The Jamaican Maroons are descendants of maroons, Africans who escaped from slavery to establish free communities in the hills of the eastern parishes of Jamaica. The maroons escaped strategically and unapologetically to return to their roots and way of life. Their traditions remain in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.

Women’s Circle with Maroon Chief and other women of the community. No Men Allowed! Yes!

In the coming days I will host the first of a series of Afrofuture workshops with the community with the African Alliance of Rhode Island. This workshop series will engage with members of the community young and old on their visions of the future through the lens of people of African heritage. My journey to a Maroon Village served as both a precursor to these workshops and also an opportunity to gain more information to share with others in regards to the visions of our ancestors. One of my goals working with the African Alliance of Rhode Island is to broaden the conversation amongst all people of African heritage on what the Afrofuture can be. This conference helped me make strides toward this vision.

African Drummers from nearby Portland and Charles Town, Jamaica

The Maroon Conference was an enriching experience that I was eager to share with others. Being amongst a community with such longevity based on their defiance against the oppressive control that plagued them once before was the most compelling experience I have had thus far. From the music, spirituality, food and people, the Maroon people showed me how the norms of African heritage can exist in a community. Each day was more exciting than the next and I learned a great deal about the people who designed and built their environment for themselves. I was encouraged, inspired and grateful to have had such an amazing time. After my time here, I hope to spread the word about the goodness of this festival and the kindness of the people in this village.

African Drummer speaking on his trip to Africa at age 17 to play the djembe and percussion instruments.

We can all learn from the Maroon people. Though they had an uphill battle, through perseverance and self-determination they were able to carve out a path to an autonomous life, a life built around their design, their governance and their surveillance.

Late night performance from local Maroon village members. So Powerful!