“A Map of My Own, Personal Cartographies"

Bernalillo County Cultural Services and Bernalillo County Youth Services present “A Map of My Own, Personal Cartographies,” an exhibit featuring artwork by young women in the juvenile detention center and professional women artists mapping places both real and imagined. This collaborative endeavor engages young women from the detention center and women artists in a visual dialogue.
Teaching artist Haley Greenfeather presented three workshops to the young women at the juvenile detention center that focused on past, present and future selves. The first workshop was about “Where we have been, our happy place.” The young women used clay to form symbols about their identity. The second workshop was “Where I am.” Using instant cameras, the young women experimented with double exposures to capture images of themselves outdoors. The third workshop, “My grandmother self,” envisioned them as their most realized selves. The participants used watercolor and pastel to paint how they imagined their future selves.
The artwork generated in the workshops was presented to eight professional artists. Artist and professor Katya Crawford gave a presentation to the other women artists on personal cartography which highlighted examples by other artists. Using the young women’s art as inspiration, the women artists created their own personal cartographies on large scale panels. The personal cartographies are themed around the concepts explored by the young women in the detention center – past, present and future selves.
The exhibit will remain up through March 2017 at the African American Performing Art Center, EXPO New Mexico, 310 San Pedro Drive N.E.