We occupy overlapping communities, and we are all shaped by our losses, and our hopes. When we don’t see how we are like others, we miss part of who we can be for each other.
We Are Also You: Avatar Project (WAAYAP) is an art installation with a community program called “Hope, Loss, and Identity”. Sponsored by the City of Lafayette Arts and Cultural Resources Grants, WAYAAP offers a platform for everyone, but especially Lafayette’s underserved populations, to share their stories of “Hope, Loss and Identity.” The aim is to promote equality and a deeper appreciation of the diversity in our community. Everyone is invited to participate and attend.
To create an avatar for inclusion in the art show:
- Pick up a “window sheet” (a large piece of cardstock with a template of three windows); use it to write, draw, or collage your own story.
- Return it to the desk upstairs at the Library.
- Participants have two chances to win one of two $50 prizes.
Avatars have been used in many cultures throughout time to represent beings devoted to the survival of humankind. Avatars were heroes on earth, here to intervene when humanity got into trouble. Recently, the term “avatar” refers to the use of an icon, or likeness, representing an alternate self, by a player in the gaming world.
The WAAYAP and the accompanying program “Loss, Hope, and Identity” are art for social change with an intention to change the way we think about ourselves, society, and culture–to resist the status quo, challenge racism and oppression, and share our personal perspectives.
Important Dates
Until Oct. 29 – Pick up “window sheets” and other supplies to create artwork to hang in the community show.
Oct. 1-31 – Return your art to the the Library for a chance to win $50, and vote for your selection for the “Best in Show” $50 winner!
Oct. 9-Nov. 16 – Visit both shows: “We Are Also You: Avatar Project” and the community show “Hope, Loss, and Identity,” in the upstairs galleries at the Library.
Oct. 22, 2-3pm – Join us for a community celebration with poetry reading and information on the creative process, followed by refreshments and conversation upstairs at the display upstairs from 3-4pm. All are invited.
-Contributed by Molly, Assistant Librarian