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Henry Kaku honored at Claiming Justice Trail in Santa Rosa
October 29, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Claiming Justice: On the Trail of Local Stories
More Information About the Project
The path made of 12 sidewalk markers stretches from College Avenue to Julliard Park. Each marker contains a portrait (or portraits) of an important activist from our community. With each portrait is a QR code that links to an online audio description of that person’s life and activism.
Funding
The project was funded by Santa Rosa Art in Public Places and Creative Sonoma. It is one of 25 projects awarded to local artists under Creative Sonoma’s Art Surround project. The new three-story gilded rose by Julian Billotte and Anna Wizarde in the Santa Rosa City Hall Courtyard is another Art Surround project. It was also created in partnership with Santa Rosa’s Art in Public Places.
A Project For and Of the Community
The focus of the entire project is community. It’s the location of the project — an attempt to draw people back to the communal space of sidewalks. It’s the process of building the project which included over thirty interviews and eighty conversations with community members. It’s also the subject of the project — 14 individuals who have worked to make our community more just and equitable. None of these people were born to great wealth or power, yet each has been able to claim justice in some unique way.
How It Works
The trail is completely free, you only need a smartphone and some earbuds to use it. This iteration of the project is temporary, it is intended to last for one year. To experience the project people will need to physically travel to each marker. This is an intentional part of the design. Communities thrive when people in them share public spaces like sidewalks. We all know that walking makes individuals healthier, but many individuals walking makes a city healthier. Written biographies for each honoree are in English and Spanish.A map of the trail is accessible through the QR codes on the markers.
*Trail is being installed just before the launch event at the library.
How It Was Made
A great deal of work and research went into this project. That work as well as many conversations with community members informed the selection of the people on the trail. Who is on the trail is as much a part of the artwork as the physical creation of each portrait and biography.The insights gained from researching individuals is reflected in the animation and personality of their portraits.
About the Artist
Kristen Throop is a Santa Rosa artist who explores complex ideas through the series she creates. In 2020 she created a series of 65 signs for temporary shelters at Los Guilicos Village. Each person being given shelter chose an image depicting dignity in a small dwelling for their cabin. Her 2022 exhibit “The Princesse” at Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg looked at modern art through the lens of Ingres’s portrait of the Princesse de Broglie.She has been a member of the SOFA arts neighborhood for thirteen years. She has a BFA from Syracuse University. It is possible that she as a child, took the story of the grasshopper and the ant a little too much to heart.