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ArtWorks created The Hope Narrative: Finding Resilience in Contemporary Photography and Family Photo Archives, a multi-faceted project to beautify the Schiff Wellness Center at the Academy of World Languages in Evanston.
In Spring 2018, artist Emily Hanako Momohara worked with a team of 5 ArtWorks Youth Apprentices to interview AWL families about their wellness routines and photographed family artifacts. The team met with 25 individuals from 6 families who represent the US, Syria, Tanzania, Iraq & El Salvador. They brought their own family cultures to the project as well, representing Guatemala, Tanzania, Lebanon, and Japan.
These interviews inspired photo collages that are a collection of images representing a culturally significant display of exercise and food, representing the routines families have to keep themselves healthy and happy. Stories of cultural activities and wellness practices, family photos, and heirlooms were used to create the artworks which are a combination of photography, collage, and textiles specific to the families’ stories.
These collages are installed in the waiting room of the REFUGE to welcome patients to the space, helping to foster a sense of pride and belonging. FotoFocus is a Cincinnati-based biennial art festival celebrating photography and lens-based art. Since its inauguration in 2010, ArtWorks has contributed large-scale, community-informed, public works of art to the festival.
Project Manager
Emily Hanako Momohara
ArtWorks Youth Apprentices
Yordy Carbrera Garcia, Irakoze Pascasia, Majd ElSabbagh, Elsa Rothan, Lawrence Reed
Generously Funded By
FotoFocus, P&G, Youth 2 Work
