[Winter 1995-1996]

New York, Art Works/The Education Project, 1993
19 x 17 cm, 60 pp., 35 ill. (19 col.), $21.00. English.

The Education Project (TEP) has as its mandate to educate inner-city youths in the fields of film, video, and photography, with an emphasis on self-expression and technical training. Format: 20 x 24 inches. Colour. Time: 70 seconds. Film: Polaroid. The goal: 10 artists. 10 youths. 10 collaborations. 1 camera.

The result: Art Works.

The catalogue, commencing with a preface by Tim Rollins, expounds the notion of collaboration between these two disparate groups – each firmly entrenched within its specific socio-economic reality. Revealed in the participants’ statements are the difficulties, expectations, and realizations that punctuated their dialogues and creative processes/partnerships. Together, these texts and the catalogue’s eloquent and forceful images comprise a powerful record of a commitment to and an attempt to rethink community, alliances, and the role of art education. The afterword, written principally by the founder of TEP (Sheila Divola Bergman), elaborates on the backgrounds of the youths involved and their previous art-making processes.

Although the project is a success, it continues to question issues of access, responsibility, and the role of art as a vehicle for social change.