Matriarchs of Washington Park

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED !!!!

Thank you for taking the time to view this passion project of mine.

Matriarchs of Washington Park: The women who persevered through racism in segregated Mesa.

The Matriarchs Exhibit opens February 1, 2024 at the Mesa Community College Gallery celebrating Black History Month and run through April 1, 2024 celebrating National Women's Month.

https://www.mesacc.edu/arts/venues/art-gallery

There are still more portraits to be completed. Please share with your friends and family and donate as much as you can.

This is an opportunity for me to help recognize the Black women from my community. I hope you will be inspired to join and make donations large or small to assist in this project. THANK YOU!!

Short description

Matriarchs of Washington Park celebrate the African American women who demonstrated courageous efforts of community activism, artistry, and kinship in the face of racism and misogyny. These matriarchs of Washington Park will be honored through portraits that lead to a companion art photography book and a documentary about the process.

With the election of Americas; first African American woman vice president African American women have a new platform of recognition and support; it will inspire Black women of all ages to be proud of their personal family history of strong women in their past and present. The portraits will awaken the call for social and civic commitment to engage in the local community efforts to ensure that young women of color from the Washington Park community and those at large in Mesa have a seat and a voice in the local government. It will give the school-aged girls attending the neighborhood charter school a positive sense of self-pride in the once-tainted and underrepresented community.

Historical Background

Washington Park is a one-square-mile radius community located just north of downtown Mesa, Arizona. It is a once-segregated neighborhood. It was the only place that African Americans were allowed to homestead, rent or buy property starting in the early 1900s. Today it is recognized by the city as the Washington-Escobedo Heritage Neighborhood, but better known to residents as North Town. These matriarchs of the neighborhood have demonstrated the resiliency of the community, but have been left out of Mesa’s history.

The Curator

Bruce Nelson is an independent curator and documentary filmmaker from Mesa, Arizona. His work as a curator and documentarian focuses heavily on his experience of living in the once-segregated Washington Escobedo neighborhood. His method of curation uses community input as its foundation to thereby reflect and celebrate community members of this often overlooked neighborhood. Nelson’s film practice has developed to be in conversation with compatible exhibitions without either relying on one another for context.

Thank you once again for your support !!!! 

https://nebproductions.com/