Every once in a while, a great project looking for community-based funding on Kickstarter comes across our desk, and we  get so inspired that we feel as though we have no choice but to help spread the word. Such is the case with “Luminous Intervention”, a project by Erin Barry-Dutro, Gerry Mak, Mike McGuire, Olivia Robinson and Jenny Graf Sheppard– five artists who have come together to form the group Greenpants. They are organizers, educators, illustrators, word-smiths, video and electronic media artists. Through their shared concerns on issues in Baltimore such as youth prisons, urban development, and economic justice, they decided to join forces to create a group that could apply artwork to social justice issues.

Their vision is a nine-month long public art project that will use video projections to alter, transform and re-envision the urban landscape of Baltimore, Maryland.   The series will include site-specific imagery from artists and activists taking on issues of housing, city development and economic sustainability from critical and poetic perspectives. Using powerful video projection equipment, the projections will take place outdoors on buildings, vacant lots, zones slated for demolition or development, and other parts of the urban landscape.

It is the artists hope that this project will connect those communities together and help artists and community members work together to address issues such as better jobs with living wages, ending the school-to-prison pipeline, fair development, and generally working towards a more just, sustainable, and beautiful city.

I spoke with Jenny Graf Sheppard who sees this project as an opportunity to literally “shine the light on important social issues”, with this project combining art, technology and social commentary.

If you have a free moment, check out their Kickstarter Page Here. If you have a few dollars to spare, help these guys out! They need to raise less than $1,000 to reach their goal!

 

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