Poor Philadelphia: The Other Side of City Life in Philly Painting

Home sick and watching videos. Came across two new documentaries about the Philly Painting project, which I first explored a few months ago. I've been struggling to understand the scale of the project, but noneless its drawn me in and I've been watching it with curiosity. 

North Philadelphia is stressed. There has been a lot of media coverage about the Philly Painting project, much of which glosses over the extent of the damage in the neighborhood, both structural and emotional. It's interesting that Hub Footwear, a dutch sneaker brand and maker of the videos, would take one of the most objective looks. The documentaries represent another track of life in Philadelphia, the true realities of which took a back seat in many reports on the mural. How real does it get? Watch the artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn explain to filmmakers why they don't wear seatbelts – you never know when you'll need to duck and cover from gunfire riding through North Philly.

Sit back and watch, if you're interested in neighborhood dynamics, poverty and violence in cities, art, and community. Highly recommend, even if I now have more questions than before.

If you're following the Philly Painting project for the longhaul, another story worth reading is architecture critic Inga Saffron's review, which asked whether or not the colorful intervention will actually drive economic growth in the commercial corridor and result in measaurable impact. "It's naive to think that painting over this depopulated blightscape can do anything more than mask the avenue's failure," wrote Saffron. That critique was pounced on by many, but none of the responses adequately discussed what is next for the corridor, important for a number of reasons.

The project afterall was positioned by the City of Philadelphia as part of a "larger economic development plan" for the neighborhood. Even the people in the video below are asking, "What's next" – from the artists themselves to shoppers and residents.

"Enthusiasm can turn pretty quickly into disappointment," says Gary P. Steuer, the City's Chief Cultural Officer, adding "we need to think about how we sustain that enthusiasm." 

At the closing of the short follow-up vide, a member of the painting crew comments –

"A lot of people making promises, so we waiting to see if people put they money where they mouth is at."

Philly Painting is a complex project, worthy of continued exploration.

So what is next?

These are appropriate questions.

Philly Painting is a collaboration between the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program and the Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, also known as Haas & Hahn (or the Favela Painters). 

[8 min. Challenge the Obvious: This is not the end - January 2013]

Dre Urhahn: "You don't paint questions away, you paint them to the surface… What happens next? What happens with the street after its painted?" 

[30 min. Challenge the Obvious: A day in the life of Haas & Hahn - September 2012]

Jereon Koolhaas: "[American] people have the idea that when you are poor, that you are not really living life." 

Blight Stuff: Mural project demands that we look at the result of urban decay

In the world of cities, the hillside communities of Rio de Janeiro now have a thing or two in common with North Philadelphia.

Celebrated with a parade on December 1, the large-scale mural project Philly Painting spans 55 building facades between the 2500-2800 blocks of Germantown Avenue. A collaboration between the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program and the Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, the project has altered the streetscape along the aging commercial corridor and will go hand-in-hand with a larger economic development strategy for the district. 

I've been following Haas & Hahn (clever) since their massive favela painting project in Brazil blewup the internet. Later, I learned more about the duo's vision while working on TEDxPhilly in 2011. Turns out, it wouldn't be long before I had only to travel 2.5 miles down Germantown Avenue from my house on W Rockland Street to see their work in-person. A curious case of happenstance.

Philly Painting at The Village of Arts and Humanities. Shade canopy (in-progress) by Public Workshop's Tiny WPA.

A neighborhood marching band hits the streets at the Philly Painting dedication on December 1, 2012.Forever trolley tracks along Germantown Avenue, home to SEPTA's epic 23 bus route.

The unpainted side of Germantown Avenue & Lehigh Avenue. I watched a pigeon fly out of the hole in the third floor facade.Philly Painting in-progress, photo snapped on October 27, 2012.

Every building has it's challenges. You end up standing in front of it, and looking at it, and realizing it's probably the first time anybody has ever looked at that building for a long time, and cared. 

― Dre Urhahn in WHYY's NewsWorks

"Turning Heads." Boarded windows above storefronts on Germantown Avenue nearby the Philly Painting project.Vibrant blight.

I would love to know if Philly Painting was part of Stan's 'master plan.'

What do you see when you look at Philly Painting? Opinions will run the gamut.

I've walked the long and bright corridor a few times now. My reaction surprised me. I found myself struck by the emptiness, leaving with a sadness about cities. Walled in by color, my eyes were drawn first to the blight that exists above the commerce. Many of the storefront shops are stacked with vacant second and third floors, the boarded windows now painted with designs that wrap around the block. Rainbow blight. I have trouble seeing beyond this, despite the fact that this setup is typical citywide (minus the fresh paint of course). That could change as corridor improvements continue. 

The mural project was designed to spark change and the clean lines and smooth walls represent a visible shift.

The painting crew spent an incredible amount of time preparing the facades for paint. For a quick look at before conditions and the process, watch these insightful documentary shorts―

One thing is for certain, Philly Painting will get you thinking about cities. But like anything, the project will draw you in, or not. After the celebratory crowd dispersed, a man driving a minivan stopped to ask me if I was taking photos for an "investigation," seemingly oblivious to the popping color surrounding us. Later, I overheard a woman comment to a friend as she passed on the sidewalk, "All these white people taking photos..." I'm multiracial, but hey! Not too long ago, I read a story about Harlem gospel churches overun with tourists and congregants clashing with photo snapping guests from around the world. The project will no doubt join the list of attractions for urban travelers.

You should go see Philly Painting. It might make you happy. Or squint your eyes, like me― it is the brightest statement on urban decay I've ever encountered, intentional or not. As art goes, the project can be viewed a lot of ways, and what you see in the physical world is merely part of the story. One could also look at the project as a giant billboard for blight. We live and breathe in cities with broken infrastructure. This decline has become our normal. Regular people don't often stand around gazing at dilapidated buildings thinking about all they mean and stand for, and I think Philly Painting in some ways demands that we look. The mural has challenged my thinking about W Rockland Street and the neighborhood improvement projects my sister and I are working on. I think that is a valuable result. And I hope Philly Painting is a catalyst for change.

So I'll be back to see how the corridor evolves (and go sneaker shopping). 

VISIT MURALARTS.ORG/PHILLYPAINTING >>
WATCH THE PHILLY PAINTING DOCUMENTARY SERIES >>
SEE HAAS & HAHN'S TEDxPHILLY TALK >>

It's about connecting the dots.

"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se." - Charles Eames

Why is this so true? Is it because it's so simple? I don't know. But lately, all is connecting and its making my head spin. Last week, I attended a party for DesignPhiladelphia at Minima, a gallery in Old City. In the tiny garden space, I fell into a conversation with Ian Cross (I-SITE, The Trestle Inn, DataGarden, general creative coolness and more!) and bounced around a number of topics (all related), from "secret mentors" to how to communicate (anything) effectively, to TEDxPhilly: The City and the value of designing experiences. This particular conversation came on the heels of another interesting talk I had just two days earlier which had already kicked some mental-gears in motion. Connections. Connections. Connections. 

Getting back in line, the garden talk took me back to my favorite TEDxPhilly moments, which I don't think I ever actually gave myself much time to think about. It turns out, for me, few actually came from the stage. Not that the talks weren't engaging and insightful - they were, and I've watched some of the videos more times than I can count, but when you're working on an event like TEDxPhilly, you can get a bit lost and your experience the day-of is often unlike that of speakers and other participants. I surprised myself talking about "my moments" - the ones you don't forget, for whatever reason - and actually got goosebumps getting into the stories (I don't know, maybe I'm dramatic, or maybe it was those DesignPhiladelphia pomegranate cocktails). 

So it makes sense then that one of my favorite moments of TEDxPhilly 2011 was not a talk itself. I remember the last speakers that I was tasked with preparing had left the stage. Unwinding, a bit dazed but still wired, I took a break in the lobby, joining Dre Urhahn, of Haas&Hahn who spoke earlier in the day with Jeroen Koolhaas, Emily McManus, editor of TED.com, and David Clayton of Breadboard. I don't know if any of them remember this, but it was significant to me. We talked about a lot of things, which I can't even begin to write about. I mostly listened. I remember I was starving and had not eaten lunch yet (as we approached the final session) but felt too amped to actually eat much. We debated making an app for people who want to trade half their lunch, inspired by my asking if anyone wanted half my sandwich. The other Emily was into this the most, if I recall correctly. Sounds silly but just think about how well this could work at a mega-office with 100s, even 1000s of people. The choices!

The couch party before I crashed it. Photo by Kevin Monko | monkophoto.com

Connections. TEDxPhilly was in November at Temple Performing Arts Center on Temple University's campus. Fast-forward to April 2012. I attended an event back on Temple's campus last night to hear Dre Urhahn talk about Haas&Hahn's project in North Philadelphia - which is why he and Jeroen happened to be in town for TEDxPhilly, what inspired this post, and made me think more about why I connected with Dre and Jeroen's work to begin with and how their projects in Rio's favelas, and now here, connect with the type of work my sister and I are doing on W Rockland Street. Oh, how it all connects in my head.

I could write and write and write, but I don't have the time, so more on connections later.

Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn talk about their work best, and that's where my interests lie at this moment, so carve out 14 minutes of your time to watch their TEDxPhilly talk. Think beyond the paint (that's where the real magic is, for me at least). 

Creating a New Narrative for Place with Paint

Here is the video description for a bit of context (a'hem, written by yours truly):

Haas&Hahn is the working title of artistic duo Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, who bring art to unexpected places, from the hillside favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the streets of Philadelphia. The Dutch artists facilitate community-driven urban interventions with paint, working to shift the perception of what the outside world has of people and place, while bringing positive attention to often-disenfranchised communities and neglected spaces.

Haas&Hahn's large-scale painting projects span multiple buildings, covering urban landscapes with explosions of color. Their much-heralded Favela Painting projects in Brazil worked to create a new narrative for place in some of Rio's most notorious neighborhoods.

It's hard to ignore the visual impact of their projects, but Haas&Hahn's work is about more than paint. Residents transform their own neighborhoods and take ownership of their hard work, generating widespread community pride. The highly visible projects also help to establish a new line of communication with the greater public about a neighborhood's identity, delivered by the people who live and work within the community. 

In September 2011, Haas&Hahn began working in the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a major public art project set to transform yet another neglected region of a city - North Philadelphia. The project, in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, is currently in-progress (as of April 2012).

Visit http://www.phillypainting.org to learn more.