Presenters
Abstract
What does violence look like in the city? How does in manifest itself?
This talk explores the many ways individuals go around to help stop violence, through art, education and sharing knowledge.
The panel will include Herman Davis and myself, a visual artist . Herman Davis a community activist, who is committed to serving the needs of individuals and families affected by violence. His work advocating against violence and its plague on the urban community is a labor of love. Davis found himself becoming a violence prevention activist out of necessity after his sister was murdered.
Davis has worked tirelessly on the development of the Youth Council for Peace and Love establishing an art based therapeutic way to encourage our youth to make better choices when faced with a challenge. Encouraging youth to use the arts as a vehicle for change – whether visual, spoken word, or lyrical art, etc. Peace and Love has visited more than 50 schools throughout the tri-state area and as far away as Virginia Sate University sharing the power of Peace and Love and encouraging youth to look at the alternative to violence.
For the past 12 years, I have lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and have worked as a “street photographer,” exploring the personal dramas of loss and violence that are “played out,” marked, and memorialized in the public spaces of the city. I am motivated by the need to document the ways in which survivors of the tragedy memorialized the loved ones who were killed. I remain attracted to urban subjects that are public expressions of personal grief or loss associated with racism and gun violence. My photographs are printed on a large-scale, generally 44’ x 30’.
I am currently compiling a list of all the homicide victims in Philadelphia from 1988 and onwards.