The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts reached out to some 250 area high school students to interact with Ann Hamilton’s installation stylus. Hamilton created stylus for the Pulitzer as a sanctuary for listening and a laboratory for vocal exercises.
“You will notice the Zen-like feel,” said Courtney Henson, visitor services manager for the Pulitzer.
The Pulitzer went into the classrooms of three local high schools and a program targeted for dropouts in an attempt to mirror the diversity of the area. Over the course of a month, some 100 of the students researched their communities through newspaper articles and other media to find out what has been said about their communities and then were asked to respond to what they learned.
“We wanted to connect with high school students and show how the media forms those perspectives,” said Lisa Harper Chang, manager of community engagement for the Pulitzer.
Emily Augsburger, community projects coordinator for the Pulitzer, worked with the students to explore all of the elements from their research that may shape the perception of someone from inside or outside their community.
They also presented their creative responses to their community research through poems, videos and other creative writing.
Hamilton’s project uses the symbolism of an open hand, so the students created their own hands and were posed the question, “What does an open hand mean to you?”
“The symbolism of hands is the simplest connection among humans,” said Emily Pfitzinger of Nerinx Hall High School.
Jasmine Jones from Normandy High School said she thought of open hands as someone having their hand out, needing something.
Cyrina Jackson, also of Normandy High School, said that each finger represents a different fingerprint, like different ethnic groups all connected by a community.
The students produced paper mache’ hands and then presented them during an interactive tour of the gallery and exchanged their hands with one another. As a representation of what school the student who made the hand came from, school colors were illustrated with a string attached to each hand.
Although all classrooms made the paper mache’ hands, one classroom wanted to explore their community through fashion, so they used shoes as a canvas.
“Each student decorated based on what they wanted in their community,” said Augsburger.
Ebony Regans from Gateway to College at St. Louis Community College decorated her shoes in the reflection of her community, St. Ann.
“I put what I like about my community, like the flowers, animals, music and art,” Regans said.
Krista Jones had a different outlook on her community, Overland.
“I don’t like my community,” said Jones.
“They take their power too serious, and I wished it looked better.”
This was reflected on her shoes. She used dollar signs to represent the misuse of power and political status in her community.
While the Pulitzer certainly did not stress negative perceptions of the students’ community, this too was an acceptable response.
Augsburger said, “We wanted them to critically view their city.”
