Images of Youth
Exploring Media & Teen Identity
directed by performance artist Jose Torres Tama
and video artist Kelly Wilbur
From June 10 - 29, 2002 Out North Contemporary Art House in Anchorage, Alaska hosted a three-week residency by New Orleans performance artist Jose Torres Tama and Seattle video artist Kelly Wilbur. The two artists were invited to conduct an intensive three-week residency that introduced a diverse group of teens from the Anchorage community to performance and video art as a means of addressing the effects of media on their personal lives and the constructed identities of teens through television, film and advertising. Working under the framework of the "Youth Performance Projects" developed by performance artist Jose Torres Tama, the two artists collaborated in the process of guiding the teens in the creation of Images of Youth. The project aims were to introduce the teens to contemporary forms of art as a means of developing self-expression and self-empowerment and employ performance art and video as a way to critically and artistically look at the world around them.
The diverse group of thirteen Anchorage teens included African Americans, Filipinos, Alaskan Natives, Middle Eastern, Latinos and other American youth ranging in age from twelve to sixteen. Through daily three-hour workshops conducted by the artists, the participating youth were guided through the process of creating an original ensemble performance piece based on their personal experiences while exploring the effects of media on their identity, race relations and their sense of place as young Americans in the remote state of Alaska. In addition, the teens explored the mythology of the "American Dream."
The workshops focused on the development and writing of monologues, spoken word poems, ensemble improvisations, conceptual movement and video shorts that were collaged into the live performance piece. The young artists were encouraged to "tell their story" as they defined themselves against a backdrop of popular culture in their search for the "American Dream." The workshops took place from at Out North Contemporary Art House located at 1325 Primrose in Anchorage.
In one vignette, twelve year old Rana McLeary offers her views on her young life while her colleague Summer Hamrick plays the violin in both a melodic and cacophonous manner, juxtaposing text with sound elements.
Rana: My mouth is open. I am silently screaming. I hate screaming although sometimes it is all I can do to be heard the world deaf to these sounds of fear, agony and sadness. I feel like this because of what I think the world expects of me: to be smart, perfect, successful. Alaska is a lot like me, a beautiful place, unique, passionate, sorrowful--a place of color, life of all varieties.
It is the same when I paint, the colors I use each important to me in some way. One day, they will reach out and touch other people too. That is what I dream of. People will see them as emotions, feelings not just shapes and colors.
Yes, Alaska is colorful emotion, a beautiful place of life, but how long will it last now? And if I scream will the world hear me? I fear growing up to be like many people in America and in the world seeing but blind, hearing but deaf, people's helpless cries. But once again, how long will it last? How long will it last? My mouth is open. I am silently screaming. I hate screaming although sometimes it is all I can do to be heard.
As part of this process, video artist Kelly Wilbur instructed the teens on the development of video as an art form as well as having them document the workshops. With Ms. Wilbur's guidance the young artists created and edited video shorts that were fused with the performance piece and incorporated video as an integral element of the final ensemble performance. In addition, a few teens who were musically trained added to the multidisciplinary nature of the performance by playing live music to accompany the spoken word solos and ensemble pieces. At times, the combination of performed text, video projections and live music offered a dynamic visceral experience.
The residency project culminated in a public performance of the teens' original performance piece on Saturday, June 29, 2002 at 7PM. The Images of Youth performance was received with thunderous applause by a full house of the Anchorage community who were driven to their feet in an ovation for the young performers. Three newspaper articles came out in the Anchorage Daily News that profiled this genuine project including a remarkable review.
The Anchorage Daily News performance and dance critic wrote, "Images of Youth" should be applauded for more than its passionate words and images. These youngsters showed courage in revealing their secret places, their personal stories. This touched a chord with everyone who saw and heard them, making for a strong evening of theater.
Images of Youth was funded by the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska Community Share, BP, Alaska State Council on the Arts, National Performance Network, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information an Out North Contemporary Art House, visit www.outnorth.org.
Kelly Wilbur is a Seattle-based video installation artist who uses multiple image video to create image- and audio- saturated environments. She worked with incarcerated and homeless youth as Out North's Teaching Artist in Residence last year. The residency culminated in a series of short PSA's and in the multi-media event "Crossroads". Current projects include "A", a video theater event created in collaboration with Nguyen Anna Ford addressing familial and politically-based power dynamics and "Mock Apocalypse" a nine-channel video and installation involving a fragmented character surviving a vicious circle maelstrom. Wilbur has designed and installed video distribution systems for MacArthur fellow John Jesurun's SNOW, Seattle's New Works Laboratory and assists a number of non-profits, activist groups and individual artists with video editing and multi-channel installations in the Puget Sound area. Kelly Wilbur holds an MFA in Studio Art, New Genre area.
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