Social Justice through Storytelling
Source/Author: Courtney Walker, Media Specialist
December 04, 2015
A group of Shorecrest Upper School juniors and seniors enhanced their studies of social justice through resources in downtown St. Petersburg. Mr. Powers, Mr. Wahlgren, and Ms. Walker led students on a field experience that was a collaboration between the Florida Holocaust Museum and artist Ya La’Ford, who uses installation murals as a creative space to hold storytelling events.
In the museum, students saw photographs, artifacts and documents about both the Holocaust in Europe and the Civil Rights movement in America. In addition to The Florida Holocaust Museum permanent collection, they viewed the special exhibits "This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement" and "Beaches, Benches and Boycotts: The Civil Rights Movement in Tampa Bay".
Then they headed to the mural site, the tunnel adjacent to Tropicana Field which travels under First Avenue, for "Blue Sunnel", a storytelling series featuring a panel of speakers focused on gratitude, creativity and perseverance. The panelist were Holocaust survivor Jerry Rawicki, artist and philanthropist Beth Morean, and City Council member Amy Foster - all organized by artist Ya La’Ford. The site itself is a transformative 85-foot, blue lighted tunnel, wrapped floor to ceiling in hand painted geometric lines paralleling the rise and fall of the sun on St. Petersburg.
The event aimed to highlight how the human voice and shared stories can memorialize the diverse paths of the human story, stories that collectively reflect trials and triumphs of spirit, ingenuity and progression in the face of struggle, violence and genocide. The event also included musical performances from the Arts Conservatory for Teens and free Thanksgiving themed bookmarks sponsored by Keep St. Pete Lit.
Creative Loafing published a recent article about the event, quoting a number of Shorecrest students:
Photos courtesy of Tim Arruda unless otherwise noted.
