Radical Urban Artists Introduce the Gentrified to the Gentrifiers

'EXCHANGE,' a group exhibition and discussion series, is tackling income disparity through art.

December 21, 2016, 7:55pm

Exchange 4.0 Chelsea. Photo by the author

While the effects of gentrification are evident to any urban denizen, serious discussions on how to deal with its negative ramifications don’t seem to take place often enough. EXCHANGE, a group exhibition and series of events presented by IThou Art & Rush Arts, not only provides a platform for austere conversations, on the matter but it also presents an opportunity for people on opposing sides of the issue to engage with one another. The resulting dialogue packs the potential for far more growth and progress than one amongst individuals with a singular viewpoint.

Currently in its fourth iteration, the installation portion of EXCHANGE presents works by 12 artists who each possess unique and divergent experiences of gentrification expressed through different mediums. Identity, Heritage, & Privilege by Liam Alexander (one of the organizers of EXCHANGE) is a two-part photographic collage where a profile portrait of the artist’s Puerto Rican grandfather, a Brooklyn resident born in the early 1900s, faces off against a portrait of the artist, a 2006 Brooklyn transplant and self-proclaimed “young, hip, identifying-white male artist” and “quintessential gentrifier.” The work operates within a nebulous emotional zone, in which the artist has deep familial roots in an area where he now acts as a gentrifying resident.

Identity, Heritage, & Privilege, Liam Alexander, 2016

Coming from a very different perspective, the works of Nae Howard combine the pre-gentrification feel of Fort Greene, Brooklyn with the neighborhood’s new, “revitalized” cultural climate, both of which have been intimately experienced by the artist, a Fort Greene native. Six collages fuse Howard’s own family snapshots from the 90s with imagery from gentrifying corporations, while the large centerpiece made of reflective Mylar is meant to “invite the viewer to stand into my very intimate family setting, the way in which gentrification does.”

Works by Nae Howard, 2016

Although the many works on view are potent aesthetic explorations of gentrification, EXCHANGE 4.0 CHELSEA: A CONVERSATION FOR COMMUNITY, one of the four talks organized for the event, seemed to provide the largest concrete strides towards navigating the perils of gentrification. Around 15 people conversed for more than two hours on a Friday evening, and the participants ranged from Anthony Rosado, a young, outspoken artist who was raised by a single mother in Bushwick until they were displaced by rising rents, to Liam, an older man who is a landlord in his native Canada and who is currently facing hostility from locals in his new Harlem neighborhood.

Exchange 4.0 Chelsea. Photo by the author

One of the central points of discussion was the topic of “artwashing,” the idea that art is a catalyst and paramount motivator of gentrification, even if the artists don’t intend it to operate in such a way. A few individuals at the talk were of an aging generation that moved to Chelsea before its hyper-gentrification and argued that, in their experience, art communities are unrelated to gentrification; they are just forced to move into areas that with cheap rent so they can afford living and studio space.

Testourmonials Project, Anthony Rosado, 2014-2016

Rosado provided a stern counterpoint, suggesting that artists “having to find a place where they can pay for two rents” is problematic when many locals in these same communities are pushed out of the ability to pay rent for a single household. However, common ground was reached among the group with the realization that artists moving to derelict Chelsea warehouses in the 80s, versus artists moving to renovated Bushwick apartments in 2016, are entirely different scenarios, with specific nuances regarding historical time and physical location that make them difficult comparisons.

Exchange 4.0 Chelsea. Photo by the author

Another centrally discussed idea was how should one behave if they are already a part of a gentrifying mass. Is there a “proper way” to interact with the surrounding community and behave on a personal level if you are in such a position? While no clear consensus was reached beyond the idea that each neighborhood has different customs and expectations and that regular, friendly interactions with the community are essential, Rosado added a very memorable remark to the discussion. The Bushwick native argued that every gentrifying individual should truthfully ask themselves the following question: “Does your presence help or hurt the community more?” If you are causing more harm than good, you simply shouldn’t be there.