
multidisciplinary artist, installation, public art, film, community engagement
About Succession: The Exchange Project

The Exchange Project is a multidisciplinary installation and community engagement project that is a site-specific response to the Seattle neighborhood of Pioneer Square, Gallery 4Culture and its location in the Tashiro Kaplan Building. Pioneer Square is densely inhabited by art galleries, studios and residences, and also organizations that service the homeless community. The aim of this project was to create meaningful exchange between these two closely proximal communities and to explore the theme of place in time and space. The Tashiro Kaplan Building houses artists, studios and galleries and was originally named the Exchange Building as a wholesale house in 1907.
Community engagement was conducted through workshops with Sawhorse Revolution’s high school girls class, at The Recovery Café, and at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, working with people dealing with homelessness and in recovery from homelessness, addiction, mental illness and trauma. The artwork generated in these workshops was featured in the exhibition. The installation at Gallery 4Culture included sculpture, immersive collage, film, community artwork and artifact assemblage.
In the film part of the project the arts and homeless communities were engaged through the creation of the film Us Them We. In Us Them We arts and homeless participants were paired together to perform choreographed gestures that required facing and touching each other. It was an exercising in seeing and connecting that engendered deep emotional transformation for participants.