‘Riding Up Front’ Drives Home The Immigrant Experience Through Art

By Poornima Apte

A person she respected once told Wei-En Tan that she did not have enough emotional intelligence. Although it stung, she might not have given the comment much thought if her grandmother hadn’t passed away shortly after. Tan, a native of Singapore, admitted that she had not known her grandmother well. “I never really found out what her story was,” she said.

As a busy finance professional, her travel schedule forced her to hail rides wherever she went. Tan soon made it a mission to ride up front to talk to her drivers and strike a connection. The results floored her. “I have learned a lot and met the most interesting people in the process,” she said.

A portrait of Wei-En Tan, used by permission from “Riding Up Front.”

Over time, Tan started documenting the stories on a personal blog. One of her friends suggested she get them illustrated, which she did. “Riding Up Front” was officially up and running. Then the 2016 presidential election happened, and things accelerated. Taken aback by the anti-immigrant rhetoric and hate that preceded the election and stunned by the Muslim ban that was declared shortly after President Trump took office, Tan realized she had to do something more. “Riding Up Front” was the perfect vehicle to channel her voice — and that of thousands of others who felt powerless in the wake of crippling hatred. Today, the nonprofit “Riding Up Front,” run by a team of twelve, receives a steady stream of submissions and shines a light on the immigrant perspective.

Each story on “Riding Up Front” narrates a rider’s interactions with his or her driver. Since one of the missions of “Riding Up Front” is to promote awareness of immigrant and refugee rights, submissions must have an immigrant tilt to them. Story writers are not compensated for their work, and a roster of volunteer artists illustrates each submission. Artists get to pick from a set of stories they would like to work on and are reimbursed for the purchase of art materials from Tan and her team.

by Paula Vrinceanu for “Riding Up Front.”

The public can donate to the blog which is used to maintain the site; and money left over is channeled to the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Immigration Council and the International Rescue Committee.

Does Tan worry that the people who access the blog might already be open to its message, a case of preaching to the choir as it were? She does see that to be a problem but judging from the thousands of times they have been trolled, Tan is quite sure their message is reaching far and wide. The team doesn’t engage with virulent commenters but if somebody is looking to strike a meaningful dialogue, they’re certainly game.

One of the other mission statements of “Riding Up Front” is to create a community through stories and artwork. Here too they have succeeded, Tan said. She still remembers returning home to San Diego after a daylong work trip to San Francisco and complaining about a long, taxing trip. Tired and miserable, she got picked up from the airport by a Jamaican woman who was full of spirit. The driver, who had awoken at 3:00 a.m. that morning, had worked in the military and held down a side job.

By Alexandra Burda for “Riding Up Front.”

“She has a daughter and goes back to cook every day because she doesn’t trust her husband’s cooking. And she would return and drive and then go back to sleep at 1:00 a.m. And she was so full of positive energy that I just felt kind of ashamed complaining about my job,” Tan said. “That attitude of hers — to look at life so much more positively and to be happy about the things you can’t control, it really hit me.”

“Immigrants are humans, we all have the same struggles and we share the same joys,” Tan said. And “Riding Up Front” is eager to drive that message home far and wide.

Poornima Apte is an award-winning freelance writer and editor. Learn more at wordcumulus.com.

Cover art by Iris Hopp for “Riding Up Front.”

Copyright © 500 Pens. December 2017.

Volunteers In More Than One Hundred Countries Make Quilts To Commemorate Holocaust Victims

By Margaret Foley

In January 2016, textile artist Jeanne Hewell-Chambers was watching a documentary on the Holocaust when her attention was caught by a mention of Aktion T4, a little-known Nazi program in which 70,273 physically and mentally disabled people were killed between 1940 and 1941. Nazi doctors would read patient files, and if they thought the person was unfit to live, they would put a red X in the file. If two doctors put an X, the person would be executed.

Horrified by what she heard, Hewell-Chambers was immediately inspired to create The 70273 Project. Her idea was to visually commemorate these unnamed and unknown people through quilt blocks. “The design came to me almost instantly,” she says. “I saw two red X’s on a white background. The white is for the paper in the files, and the red X is for the pen marks.” A few days later, she announced the project on her blog, The Barefoot Heart, inviting people to join her in making blocks.

Hewell-Chambers has long been interested in the connection between women, arts, and disability. “I learned about sewing and quilting from my grandmother,” she says. “I have an innate love for it. It’s tactile, and of course, it’s got a nostalgic element, but working with fabric is also a way to make connections and create meaning.”

And it’s clear that the meaning behind the project resonates with people all over the world; from her small town of Cashiers, North Carolina, the project has gone global. So far, people from more than 120 countries have participated. “From the first day, it’s grown and grown,” says Hewell-Chambers. “It’s very grassroots, and people connect to the human factor.”

Participants have found ways to make the project personal, and one of those ways has been through fabric. A woman in Kosovo sent a quilt to an exhibit of The 70273 Project in France last summer that was made from her wedding dress, and another woman found a way to connect her quilt to the 1940s. “She went into the attic of the house of a woman who had been a midwife in the early 1940s and found a cache of baby clothes,” she says. “She created this quilt from baby clothing from the time period when this Nazi program was going on.”

Others have connected through history, particularly in countries where World War II was fought. “That part is very interesting,” Hewell-Chambers says. “It’s still very fresh for them. They don’t live in the past, but they honor the past.”

To keep track of this worldwide-quilting activity, Hewell-Chambers has people send her blocks, pieced blocks, and finished quilts. She assigns each block a number and catalogs it using a provenance form sent in with each block. So far, she’s cataloged close to 25,000  blocks, and that number only includes projects she’s been sent; she hopes in the winter of 2018 to stage a large-scale exhibit of everything that’s been made. Other exhibits for The 70273 Project include QuiltCon and exhibits next January in England’s Rochester and Durham cathedrals.

Historically, quilting has been an art form that brings people, usually women, together, whether through the creation of a quilt that has been handed down through generations or through the tradition of getting together to make quilts. This sense of community has been an important aspect of The 70273 Project. In addition to making blocks on their own, people have organized block-making events in places such as the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and the Channel Islands. Some of these have taken place in conjunction with other events, such as a multigenerational The 70273 Project block-making stall at the Hever Castle Handmade and Homegrown Festival in Hever, England, in September.

In Portland, Oregon, quilter Michelle Freedman has been arranging block-making days at Modern Domestic, a sewing workspace and store where she is the programming and education coordinator. At these events, she provides sewing space and access to machines and makes quilting materials available. She first heard about the project from a friend and decided to come up with a way to get others involved. “I can not only participate easily, I can gather community and make space for it,” she says. “I like the idea of art that speaks to a cause.”

Like other people involved in the project, Freedman also had personal reasons for wanting to participate. “I felt connected because it was beautiful and meaningful to me,” she says. “I feel like being Jewish, you have to know and own your story. This was a new way to tell the story, and its background story was one I’d never heard. I feel like it’s timely because for the first time in a long time, I’ve felt exposed. Projects like this are a way to have a voice in what’s going on.”

For Hewell-Chambers, in the larger social context, The 70273 Project is about activism not politics. “I don’t allow politics in the project,” she says. “Politics are divisive, and in The 70273 Project, we’re about finding common threads that bring unity without squashing differences and individuality. For reasons that escape me, politics doesn’t allow this kind of unity, so I just close the door on it. Politics? Nope. Social activism? Yes.”

To find out more about The 70273 Project, visit its website.

Margaret Foley is a writer and editor living in Portland, Oregon. You can read more of her writing and connect with her via http://www.margaretfoley.com.

Cover photo: A volunteer participating in The 70273 Project at Modern Domestic in Portland, Oregon uses a sewing machine for the first time. Photo courtesy of Michelle Freedman.

Copyright © 500 Pens. October 2017.

 

Yollocalli And The Artistry Of Young Chicago

Written and photographed by Patty Johnson

In an unassuming building on the second floor of the Boys and Girls Club in Chicago’s “Little Village” neighborhood, a budding photographer can explore her technique, a young painter may freely decorate a canvas, and a hopeful TV producer has access to the perfect lighting equipment that would otherwise be difficult to come by. This is Yollocalli Arts Reach.

A lively mural has been painted onto the building in which the art program resides. The artwork reads, “Yollocalli. Home.” Photo by Patty Johnson.

Yollocalli, which means “heart house,” is an initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art. The program, which embraces expression through multiple mediums, offers a range of artistic opportunities for young people between 13 and 24 years old. On this summer day, students are critiquing each other’s work with a keen eye and encouraging tone in a popular murals class where participants create art under the guidance of established artists.

Teachers walk around the room and ask students what they like about their pieces. The atmosphere is warm and supportive. Appraising one piece, the instructor says, “This one can be a mural all by itself,” and goes on to explain why.

“My art is a way of getting away from hard stuff,” said Gloria Valle. Photo by Patty Johnson.

With a bright smile, student Gloria Valle displays various pieces, one of which might be a template for a mural the class will be creating and another which is currently displayed at a city bus shelter. Valle has been a student at Yollocalli for one year, and when she first began drawing, she says she “didn’t know how to put art together.”

At the young age of 18, Valle has already withstood multiple personal hardships. Adding to this, she explains, is her disappointment about the state of the country. “My art is a way of getting away from hard stuff. When you’re surrounded by negativity, this is an escape,” says Valle. “[Yollocalli] feels like home. We’re here for each other as people. That’s what our community needs.”

This mural was created by Yollocalli students on a wall of a local flower shop under the direction of artist Chris Silva. Photo by Patty Johnson.

“Groovie” is 23 years old and has been a student since 2016. She’s a bit shy but nothing like she used to be, she says: “When I first came here I was more shy and reserved, and after being here a while, I was able to talk more. I was able to put my ideas out there.”

Groovie was first inspired to draw at a young age as she watched her father paint. But when her father later left the family, she abandoned her love of art. More recently, her desire to reconnect with it has resurfaced. Groovie draws. She draws about love, the mother-child relationship, global warming, and anything else she pleases. “I really love it here. It’s not just helping me. It’s helping other people.”

This student-created piece lives on a stretch of wooden fence on a fairly quiet residential street. Photo by Patty Johnson.

Carlos Ramirez became involved with Yollocalli in 2014. Ramirez, age 22, says that at Yollocalli, he “learned about discipline and how to work with people with more ease.”

Because Ramirez has spent three years here, he has made observations about newer students. “As weeks go by they come out of their bubble. They become who they’re supposed to be.”

Ramirez reflects on a mural he helped with that he passes by often. “We see the mural across the street from the jail, and it’s gray and cold but you walk on the other side and you see all these shapes and colors,” says Ramirez. “In this community where violence is prominent, Yollocalli is a hub for creativity.”

The students’ artwork can be found throughout Chicago, many times in unexpected places. Some murals capture themes of equality, unity, peace and the many vibrant colors of the immigrant experience. Other pieces are inspired by the types of buildings artists used as their canvases, and some are born out of abstract expression. A mural map can be found on Yollocalli’s website and offers locations and a brief description of each piece. 

Patty Johnson is a health psychologist from Chicago who enjoys writing and speaking about spirituality, culture and justice. She recently finished a memoir about her secret American boyfriend, her very angry Indians parents who find out and the unraveling of the whole hot mess.  She can be contacted at www.pjtemple.com.

Pictured on the cover, Carlos Ramirez 

Copyright © 500 Pens. September 2017.