We the People
Visual Art & Installation
We the People is a large-scale portrait and street-poster installation I created in 2022, reimagining who is included in the phrase "we the people" from the US Constitution's Preamble. Working as a one-person team, I photographed and documented over 80 high school students, framing each of them as the next generation of social justice change-makers, and installed the collection as a public wall display alongside a companion website.
Client:
Kenwood Academy High School
Role:
Artist
Year:
2022
Explore the full story –
Challenge
In 2022, I created a more expansive illustration of who is included when we say "we the people" from the Preamble to the US Constitution. We live in a society that was founded on centering whiteness but the social change that has occurred in US society mainly comes from people of color. Typically, we think of social justice activists as historical figures. We all know the greats: Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, MLK Jr, Huey Newton, Nina Simone. Who will fill their shoes? Who will be the next Fred Hampton or Assata Shakur to challenge society to be better? I wanted to reorient my high school peers to themselves as the next generation of change makers.
Objective
The concept for my design was to mimic the repetitive aesthetic of wheat paste street posters. The minimalist graphic "We the people", became the veil for each student's portrait, simultaneously symbolizing unity, diversity and the collective power of Black Americans as change makers. Within the span of 4 months I photographed over 80 students. I not only captured their faces, but also how they seek to be the change they want to see in the world. As a one person team, I coordinated students' photo time slots, shot, edited, printed, and mounted each poster. I then installed the collection of posters on a prominent school wall. To ensure this project lives on, I created an accompanying website that shares each student's aspiration and photo.
Results
We The People gave me the opportunity to learn how to produce art on a large scale and fail my way through it. I learned strategic project planning to ensure my vision came to fruition in a timely and cost-effective manner. As a young artist, this experience set the tone for my future art and experience making with a social impact orientation, designed to inspire the viewer to take action.
