Make Our Differences Our Strengths
Information on the project Westmoreland County billboards, exhibit at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and artists' talks at: https://makeourdifferencesourstrengths.com/...
About this image:
FULL SPECTRUM refers to social strengths—structural, physical and emotional.
Through linked arms, nine dancers become one. The dancers’ upper bodies emphasize connection, pronouncing and delineating an enclosure. Their linkage suggests a combined and connecting energy with great potential. This energy does not confer a heavy or permanent power; it is a dynamic current for shifting needs and circumstances.
A color wheel occupies the space that their arms encircle. Its contours and center gaze out at us like an observant eye. Its rings and rays of colors suggest a multi-lensed eye, allowing for both multiple and singular perspectives. Is it seeing us or are we seeing it? The line between points of view is blurred. Its full spectrum is inclusive and non-hierarchical. There is no primacy, no black and white dichotomy.
Instead, there is the perception and the reality of diversity as strength.
Notes on sources:
The encompassing image is an altered photograph by AJ Johnson that documents Snap Crackle Pop, a 2018 performance by Carolyn Dorfman Dance. Snap Crackle Pop is a collaboration between Carolyn Dorfman and Renée Jaworski, Co-Artistic Director of PILOBOLUS, who merged their signature styles to create a work about connection—past, present, and future. Snap Crackle Pop had its World Premiere on April 14, 2018 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Credits: Photo source: Narratography by APJ and Carolyn Dorfman Dance
Press:
Artists to discuss Westmoreland billboard project, which drew national attention, by Shirley McMarlin, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, December 29, 2020
Linda Poon, City Lab: How to Diversify a Trump County, Bloomberg, December 14, 2020
Diversity Billboard Project by David Carrier in The Brooklyn Rail, November 2020
“Artists Taking Over Billboards Across America,” by Chadd Scott, Forbes, October 8, 2020
“Diversity project billboards shine along Westmoreland Country roads,” by Shirley McMarlin in Tribune Review, October 22, 2020
FULL SPECTRUM, exterior billboard in Westmoreland County
FULL SPECTRUM for interior billboard for Westmoreland Mall