Imagining UNC’s Future with Art – A Sneak Peek with Artists
Carter Hubbard and Sonny Kelly
“When people just hear words, sometimes the words are hard to hear.” – Carter Hubbard, artist
Words matter. They have the power to start and stop conversations, to build bridges or put up walls, to sooth or to inflame animosities. Words grow into thoughts and actions. That is the idea behind Floraffiti®, just one of the creative projects designed by artists participating in the Imagining UNC’s Future with Art initiative.
Students, alumni, faculty and community members answered the call to create artistic projects that envision a shared future at UNC. Work that emerges from these collaborations will express shared values of the community. Their creations vary from sculptures, to painted murals, to documentary films, to performances, and yes, plants designed into words. Participating artists will install, display, and perform their public art projects beginning this spring. In a series of articles with the artists, the Center for the Study of the American South (CSAS) is previewing these innovative works. The range of projects will grace the lawn at Love House and Hutchins Forum, engage visitors in our parlor, provoke conversations in our hallways, and extend dialogue into spaces around campus and throughout the Chapel Hill community.
With spring blooms around the corner, this preview series begins with Floraffiti® by artists Carter Hubbard and Sonny Kelly. In March, when nature begins to showcase its renewal, Hubbard and Kelly will literally plant the seeds of change with their one-of-a-kind project, Floraffiti®.
“Bringing life to words and words to life,” explains Hubbard, a visual linguist who once lived in Chapel Hill and still considers herself part of the extended community. She’s been following developments at UNC, including the removal of the “Silent Sam” statue. “Keeping closely in touch with each passing event surrounding Silent Sam has served as fuel for necessity of exploring ways of communicating that can bring people together, starting dialog to move through difficult conversations to positively forward.”
Hubbard and fellow artist Kelly believe starting new dialogue begins with words. Floraffiti®, a community engagement project founded by Hubbard, focuses on the intention of words. Imagine graffiti, not painted on walls, but captured in vibrant Crimson Clover and verdant leaves on the community landscape. In other words, Floraffiti®.
“I don’t give participants voice, I empower them to find their voices, and Floraffiti offers them a platform to share their voices with their community.” – Sonny Kelly
The artistry for Floraffiti® begins with poetry and writing workshops led by Kelly, an instructor and doctoral student in Communication and Performance Studies at UNC. Using fun theater warm-ups and exercises with insightful lessons in poetry, literature, and language, Kelly will help workshop participants create written pieces from which each writer will select one word to plant. “My process begins with demonstrating a performance of creative expression to start each workshop, then analyzing or dialoguing about it with the participants, and, finally, developing or activating new performances, poems and prose as vehicles to share our truths in the world,” explains Kelly. “I don’t give participants voice, I empower them to find their voices, and Floraffiti offers them a platform to share their voices with their community.”
Floraffiti is a blend of creative place-making, social activism, as well as visual, literary and performing arts. The combination provides a distinctive way to present and digest information, responding to the local climate and embodying these stories. This unique artistic expression allows community members of all ages to express what is important to them in a positive, self-affirming atmosphere.
Hubbard says what may seem non-traditional has its basis in shared practices. “There is something universal about playing in the dirt,” says Hubbard, “and appreciating nature, being connected to nature.”
Artists are using the space to share narratives created by multiple voices. “One of the fundamental building blocks for oneself and one’s relationship with the world and others is being seen, heard and valued,” says Hubbard. “This project does that. This is another form of communication and relationship building. CSAS is creating a space for truth-telling.”
Kelly’s writing workshops lay the groundwork for communicating, using nature as an artistic expression of activism with Floraffiti. “With the input of the participants, my approach mobilizes performance to shift paradigms, transform perspectives, and create cross-cultural connections that unify and enrich our communities,” says Kelly.
Information about the initiative’s other artists and their project exhibition dates will be posted in this series at south.unc.edu.