Changing Through Art

Getting lost with the metro system was a great experience. It allowed for us to go through 47th street in south Chicago. The mile long walk towards Little Black Pearl gave us a rush: from cat calls to "smile, its not a bad day today." The difference between the low-income and high-income communities was substantial. There were broken windows on one end, and Lexus cars on the other. Little Black Pearl was filled with very welcoming staff. Although the work that we did was not expected, we still appreciate the opportunity to create a foundation for the youth to work with by just cleaning and reorganizing the work stations.

The "Off the Beaten Path- Violence, Women and Art" exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center was very overwhelming. There were many different types of violence inflicted amongst women such as war, rape, and the role of women in society. One piece that I found very interesting was a crutch stabbed through a woman. She had a smile, but no arms and her image was battered. The smile symbolized her showing the public that she was happy and that everything was fine, but in reality she was trapped and enduring a lot of pain. Another is the picture "Tsumgi", which was painted by a famous Japan artist:Miwa Yanagi. the picture was about the call of an old woman who lived in a forest. She called mountains and trees; she told her own story. Then we returned our hostel.

We attended Beyond Media training for Chain of Change. It encourages people to speak out what they think through videos. We had a chance to make our own video, a chance to changes at Hamline and what we thought about violence in different communities. Overall, our day was filled with events and learning experiences.