A detail of In Honor of Black Lives Matter by KaNSiteCurators and Caroline Mardok, installed in Poe Park, The Bronx
When Black Lives Matter protests swept across New York City in June last year, businesses across the city shuttered their storefronts with plywood to brace for the civil unrest. The city “felt apocalyptic”, says Neil Hamamoto, the founder of Worthless Studios, a non-profit arts organisation that is repurposing the leftover plywood into art installations that aim to reinvent the defensive material as a source for creative inspiration.
The Plywood Protection Project features works by five artists across the five boroughs who each used around 40 plywood boards sourced from local businesses. The initiative “extends this material’s life”, but also complements “New Yorker’s increased desire to engage with outdoor, public spaces”, Hamamoto says.
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Art & Design|How Plywood From Last Yearâs Protests Became Art
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/arts/design/george-floyd-memorialize-the-movement.html
Tanda Francis in her studio, working on her sculpture “RockIt Black,” which was installed in Queensbridge Park in New York this month.Credit.Ike Edeani for The New York Times
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How Plywood From Last Yearâs Protests Became Art
During the George Floyd marches last year, businesses boarded up. This year, hundreds of those boards will be displayed in exhibitions in Minneapolis, New York and Chicago.
Tanda Francis in her studio, working on her sculpture “RockIt Black,” which was installed in Queensbridge Park in New York this month.Credit.Ike Edeani for The New York Times