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AIR WORKSHOP WITH AVERY WILLIAMSON: ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC COMMENT
August 18 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Alternative Public Comment is a take on one of the city of Ypsilanti’s current avenues of public participation: public comment. Through this process anybody is able to speak for 3 minutes to the mayor and city council on “any topic of concern.” Alternative Public comment is a workshop for people who feel like:
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words can’t capture everything they want to express
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there is no space for them to share their dreams for the place they live
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3 minutes is too short
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they’re speaking into a void when sharing through the public comment
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their beloved city is straying from a path they like
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their beloved city should be on a completely different path
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“care is the antidote to violence” – Dr. Saidiya Hartman
In this workshop participants will work with materials from the local archive to create 8.5” x 11” paper collages that express their thoughts, dreams, and concerns for the city of Ypsilanti. This workshop is open to all, with a preference for people who have lived, worked, or visited the city of Ypsilanti. You’ll be provided with all the supplies you need for this workshop. Participants are encouraged to share their alternative public comment during public comment at City Hall on the 1st and 3th Tuesdays of each month.
Ages 16+
Ages 9 – 16 with an accompanying guardian
August 18, 2024, 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Off Center
Free to the public
Bio:
Avery Williamson is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores historical and contemporary notions of the archive, domestic space, Black pleasure and spatiotemporal collapse. She explores the narratives of Black women in personal and institutional archives. Her work as a multidisciplinary artist challenges the flatness, fixity, and polarity of history. Williamson’s practice regularly questions the kinds of histories that we preserve, and considers what might be missing. Her artwork has been featured in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine and Guardian News. She graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Visual Studies and currently lives and works in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
