"Superheroes" (2016) by Red
23 Broadway Newark, NJ 07104
It is vitally important that youth see themselves as having power. All of our actions lead to reactions, no matter how large or small we perceive the scale to be. Without evaluating the size of it, each individual is faced with sets of choices everyday from whether or not to travel in one direction or another to how one chooses to respond in conversation. Young and old alike, we are all powerful because everything we do is the result of something prior, or at least chronologically manifests after something prior, and leads to some future reaction as a result. This concept of the butterfly effect posits that everything done, matters. Our choices matter for many reasons: other people watch what we choose to do and assess what they want to do in relation to how they perceive our actions; our actions distribute and redistribute resources, information, energy, and space, therefore the actions we choose determine what ensues as a result; our choices are how we create our lives and in effect, the world, which is the sum of our many individual lives. We are all superheroes when we can perceive ourselves that way.
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I had the pleasure of installing this artwork at La Casa de Don Pedro in Newark, NJ in July-August of 2016. I worked alongside Ms. Melissa and other La Casa Staff who were responsible for making the dope steps. Together, our efforts created this aesthetic which I hope inspires the youth to climb through those books, mentally chew and understand them, and empower themselves through education and imagination.