Identity of Interbeing: Recognizing Our Differences While Seeing Ourselves
2006 | Brooklyn, New York
PROJECT PARTNERS:
Asking “What am I made of?” and exploring interbeing in Brooklyn
PROJECT
Identity of Interbeing: Recognizing Difference and Seeing Ourselves was a multifaceted process of reflection and action that included the collaborative development and creation of images by the Packer Collegiate community for the main courtyard space at the school. The project also included an exhibition in the school’s Shen Gallery that showcased documentation from the project amongst a selection of other artworks focused on social collaboration.
THEME
By creating spaces for participants to express their individual selves in an inclusive way, there was the manifestation of interbeing–recognition of difference that, at the same, shows interconnectedness.
CONCEPT
Identity of Interbeing was an interactive, multidisciplinary experience that culminated in a large public work and gallery exhibition. Participants practiced expressing themselves and building community through a number of reflective, educational, and celebratory processes. All of the activities for fun and growth in the process of creating the public piece, as well as the final exhibition, were occasions for collaboration.
Social collaboration transcends individual privileges where separate expectations are replaced with equality and collective self-interest. By creating experiences with dynamic demographics and exercises that everyone could create in, there was a collective unification and support of new, inclusive community. Joyful existence exemplified the participants’ individuality as well as interconnectivity. At the center of these exercises for positive shared experience was an artistic representation, with the focus being the Packer Collegiate community.
METHOD
Participants from all three school divisions, as well as faculty, family, and friends were invited to contribute to the project. The assignment for the parents and faculty was the same as the task for the students at all grade levels, administered through the art classes for two weeks in the month of April. Participants were asked simply to contemplate “what they were made of.” Inevitably, this personal exercise in reflection contributed to the focus of the theme of “Identity of Interbeing: Recognizing Difference and Seeing Ourselves.”
Participants were given a sheet of mirrored paper to express what they were “made of.” The continuity of the paper and scale exemplified the equality of the all participants, regardless of whether they were parents, faculty members, or students. At the same time, each participant was free to express themselves however they wished, exemplifying the creative differences that existed within the Packer community.
After completing this initial step, participants were further integrated into the art making process. Parents, caregivers, staff, students and teachers were invited to collaboratively project a series of drawings created from photos taken during the “What am I made of?” assignment as well as selected copies of faculty, parent, and student creations. The large main drawings were projected onto two large 7’ x 18’ plywood walls set up in the school’s main courtyard. The collaboratively drawn images were accompanied by a selection of quotes from the assignment that related to the theme of recognizing differences and seeing oneself. This initial transfer of smaller drawings to the large-scale panels was a unifying experience that helped connect participants deeply to the project as well as serving as an engine for community healing, building, and joy. Music and food added to the celebration.
A few days later, the Identity of Interbeing project crescendoed with a celebratory session of coloring, personal dialogue, and community connection. Rotating mixed-age groups, including lower school classes, collaboratively colored in the garden wall drawings and text that had been generated and projected in the previous days.
The final outdoor product of this project was large collaboratively colored drawings of the Packer Collegiate community alongside a selection of large quotations. This project aimed to empower the entire school community by beautifying Packer Collegiate with artworks that featured images of its community members and their voices, which they were directly involved in creating.
Day of Dialogue and Reflection
After participating in the garden coloring session, scheduled classes reconvened for guided writing and talking about the project and for participants to share what they had learned about each other and themselves. These combined group dialogues allowed participants to contemplate the experience more deeply and complete the pedagogical cycle of “introduce, study, and recall” to enhance their learning.
Concentric Circle Reflection
A few days after the reflection, teachers and staff slowly circled the garden, beginning at the main door entrance and walking in the two directions of the community-made artwork. Instructions were sent beforehand so teachers could prep their classes. As the circles moved past the walls, participants were guided to take a good look at what they had created and to note details that struck them. As the two lines of collaborators moved past each other in the larger part of the garden, participants were invited to reflect on their surroundings and each other. This activity was done in silence to provide extra focus and reflection.
The Carol Shen Gallery Exhibition
Finally, the Shen Gallery opening was a celebration with music, food, and more social collaboration. The exhibition featured documentation of the Identities of Interbeing project, including all of the mirrored pieces created by the Packer Collegiate community, photos and video taken by school photographers, and writing by everyone. A special wall drawing made from the collaborative coloring day in the courtyard was also in the gallery, which attendees of the opening colored in together.
