A Painting By Us

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A socially engaged mural project developed in collaboration with Darna an NGO in Morocco, at their children’s house. The children's house is a hangout spot, attached to a homeless youth shelter and it provides a space for recreational activities and second-chance certification programs.

 

Our group (Vasi, Bailey and I) noticed that the children were sticking to gender norms: the boys were playing sports and the girls were talking in the garden. Our intervention was a performance of play weaved temporally with the process of creating a mural. 

 

We played and we played bad, showing that you don’t have to be good or a boy to participate in sports. We organized female-only games and invited boys and girls to reclaim space on the sports court through art. They made the sketches and we made the composition. They voted on the mural design and we drew the outlines. Everyone played and everyone painted. 

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Watch the video to the left to see the process.