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W e d n e s d ay, O c t O b e r 2, 2024
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Jan Risher LONG STORY SHORT
Be a beginner
STAFF PHOTOS BY MATTHEW PERSCHALL
INSPIRING
Artist Journey Allen stands in front of a mural at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center recently in New Orleans.
New Orleans art program building up incarcerated youths
Recent artwork in progress by incarcerated youth. BY JONI HESS
Staff writer
The news of a 17-year-old girl shot dead in broad daylight fueled the inspiration behind a Juvenile Justice Intervention Center mural. The girl’s brother, a detained youth at the Gentilly-based center, led advocacy efforts for the mural weeks prior as a way to express ruminating thoughts he confronted each night in his cell. “He manifested this project and needed it, but he didn’t know that he would need it,” said Journey Allen, director of youth education at Arts New Orleans and the artist behind numerous murals across the city. In the early days after the shooting, Allen said the boy didn’t want to participate with the group in creating the artwork he once pushed for, but eventually, he was able to join them.
Graveyards to gardens The project, called, “From Graveyards to Gardens,” is one of multiple vibrant artworks plastered along the walls of the center that were painted by youth selected for the Young Artist Movement program through Arts New Orleans. Together, they blended the colors of a large snake overlooking a set of tombstones, replacing the barren wall outside the center’s cafeteria. “R.I.P. neglect; R.I.P. the old me; R.I.P. drugs; violence; poverty,” the tombstones read underneath a lightning cloud. Graveyard vines sprout up from the dirt and intertwine with a set of praying hands like rosary beads. On the other side is a rainbow and butterflies — a “garden” as reflected in the piece’s title. The group members wanted to show their transition from who they were to who they would become. The murals are supported through
the Young Artist Movement Diversion program, a program of the nonprofit Arts New Orleans that was initiated by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office two years ago. It’s funded by commissions, private donations and foundations. The program’s premise is rooted in healing and resilience through artistic expression. Those who participate in the full project receive an $850 stipend upon completion — or an adjusted amount for how long they worked.
“You’re here, but it’s like you’re not here because no one can know your name. No one can identify you because everything about you is confidential, but they’re choosing to present who they are” JOURNEY ALLEN, director of youth education at Arts New Orleans
away from the influence of their home environments — a challenging task for Moving parts those who are often released back into For Allen, a former New Orleans those same environments. Others may public school teacher, the murals rep- receive lifelong sentences for their resent a mix of realities that are both crimes. beautiful and tragic. In the facility’s sanctuary room, she Youth crime wave points to the stained glass paintings According to data from the New of the teens blanketing the walls. The Orleans Police Department Analytics project is unfinished, partly due to Unit, crime rates across the city show some of the artists’ transition to Or- steep declines compared to August leans Parish Prison after they turned 2022, yet juvenile murders reached a 17. Under Gov. Jeff Landry’s admin- 15-year high last year. A report compiled by Jesse Chanin istration, 17-year-olds charged with a crime are now treated as adults. The Research and Consulting earlier this year found that city-funded juvenile new law took effect earlier this year. The self-portraits depict parts of justice programs were underserving their individual identities outside the New Orleans youth, stressing that earfacility — brands of clothing, favorite ly intervention and family therapy are things they enjoy. worthy of more investments. “You’re here, but it’s like you’re not But intergenerational poverty, here because no one can know your among other compounding factors, is name. No one can identify you because at the crux of youth violence, said Asia everything about you is confidential, Baker, mother of Malik Baker, who but they’re choosing to present who was recently released from the center they are,” Allen said of the facility’s after 11 months. protocols. Baker said a lack of recreational opThe paintings, touched by three or portunities for impoverished kids is four cohorts of detained youth, also also an issue. reflect the many moving parts of the “When we were young, we had so pre-trial facility from arrival, to await- many free summer camps. We were ing sentencing and potentially being able to go swimming all the time,” she transitioned to adult prison, Allen said. said. Chris Carter, a family friend and In between those moving parts, the center attempts to change the trajectoä See INSPIRING, page 3G ry of many who are temporarily pulled
I grew up in a small, rural town in Mississippi that didn’t offer a lot of fancy lessons or organizations for kids. In elementary school, I took dancing for two years. I was never very good, but I took it and can still shuffle ball chain with the best of them. I took piano for eight years when I was growing up, practicing almost every single day from the time I was 8 until I was 16. Though I don’t have a piano in my home anymore, I can still sit down and sight read most songs. All those years of playing the piano and having music in my bones almost daily changed who I would have been otherwise. In Brownies and Girl Scouts, we learned how to do something different almost every week — decoupage, woodburning, sit-upons and more. Adult volunteers, mothers of friends, gathered the materials and guided us through the processes. Come summertime, I was able to go to a non-fancy summer camp where my fellow campers and I learned to canoe, shoot a bow and arrow, hand build with clay and have our creations fired. The point is, while growing up, I had the opportunity to be a beginner on a regular basis. Most of us do as kids. But as adults, that changes. The opportunity to be a beginner doesn’t arise nearly as often as it did back in elementary or even junior high school. Once most adults hit their stride and establish a career, they have settled on their hobbies and routines. Even in what could be described as a rut of adulthood, most of us glide right along in a comfort zone. Though there are exceptions, the longer most adults stay in their comfort zones, the more intimidating the unknown becomes. Being a beginner is good for us on so many levels. It strengthens our humility muscle. It reinforces the importance of patience, endurance and the way we can bounce back from mistakes — all traits that tend to make us better versions of ourselves. Starting something new has the capacity to awaken our curiosity and dabble in the space of imperfection. Being a beginner allows us the chance to delight in the thrill of incremental progress, regardless of how minor the progress may be. It also allows us the chance to marvel at the people who do it well — to be in awe. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote that, “Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe. Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.” Being a beginner at almost anything affords the opportunity for more awe because we have an inkling as to what’s involved in doing this new thing well. n Want to learn how to throw a
ä See RISHER, page 3G