Projects
Arlington Arts Individual Artist’s Grant 2023-24:
Curating 4 Community Art Exhibits
by Sushmita Mazumdar
“It will be a continuation of my work of making voices visible, of sharing stories of Home.
But who have we heard from?
And who have we not asked?” ~ Sushmita
I am so happy to share that my project Curating 4 Community Art Exhibits has won an FY 2024 Individual Artists Grant from Arlington Arts. I wanted to continue my work with curating, as I learned a lot while working on the year-long exhibit We PAUSED! Unbound, which I was commissioned to create by Arlington Cultural Affairs to show at their Gallery 3700. I was ready to take that experience to a brand new community and space.
That space is our new, second Studio PAUSE location. Located in the Barcroft Shopping Center on Columbia Pike, it is part of the historic Barcroft Apartment community. These exhibits will be designed to specifically connect with the residents of that 60-acre, 1300+ unit affordable housing community. We will invite the residents to come to the space to see the exhibits and meet the featured artists, project partners, and guests at the events. I want the exhibits there to inspire them to see how local creatives like the PAUSErs and the Columbia Pike Documentary Project team tell stories of “Me, Here:” Stories of People and Place in so many different ways. I will be inviting the residents to do the same—share their stories of people & place through their creative work—through our larger “We Are Barcroft: A 60-Acre History of People & Place” project.
Working with residents of Barcroft Apartments gives me a chance to work with a whole new multicultural community in Arlington. How cool is that? Join us to see how I do this along with the Studio PAUSE community and the Documentary Project team, and all our partners! Thank you.
You will find details of each exhibit below. Enjoy some photos from our Grand Opening on October 7, 2023, as well:
The brochure about the 2 inaugural exhibits. Photo, Andrea Avendano
Outside, at the ribbon cutting
Kim Klingler (left), executive director of our partner Columbia Pike Partnership,
with David Hilde, Vice President of Development for Jair Lynch Real Estate PartnersArlington’s inaugural poet laureate, Katherine E. Young, reads her poem Columbia Pike Blues
Kara Billings shares about her mixed media artwork Connect.
Founders of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project, Paula Endo, Todd Endo, Lloyd Wolf, with Sushmita (front, left)
Guests
Friends and Supporters
Event team and families
Click here to Join us for our Grand Opening and Community PAUSE: Saturday October 7, 5-7 pm
This program is supported in part by Arlington County through the Arlington Cultural Affairs division of Arlington Economic Development and the Arlington Commission for the Arts.
Exhibit 1:
“Me, Here:” Stories of People & Place as told by the Studio PAUSE Community
October 2023 - March 2024
“We are places where we root, uproot;
where we are planted, and where we replant ourselves.
We are formed by the rivers and sunlight;
birdsong and rain; songs, colors, memories and stories.”
I wrote this one monsoon morning recently, sitting on the swing outside my hotel room in Panchgani, India.
Decades ago I had started to teach myself to tell my own stories. I had to—there was no one else who could tell my American children about my wonderful childhood in India. I told stories through words and handmade books, through collages and paintings. From doing that I learned to encourage others to tell their own stories. We told our stories in words, across languages and cultures, through visuals, food, dress, and celebration. I also learned how to tell stories the way others wanted me to.
Now, as a curator, I invited the Studio PAUSE community to share memories, joys and challenges they have already told me about, and see how their art connects to a broader community in various ways. It helped me connect with them, either because we had similar experiences, or because I couldn’t imagine what they had experienced at all, and could only listen. It taught me the power of community, and the great knowledge we gain from creating spaces where people feel safe telling their stories and others feel safe listening to the stories being told. Now, I share these with the residents of Barcroft Apartments as part of our Arlington County FY 24 Historic Preservation Program grant, “We Are Barcroft: A 60-Acre History of People & Place,” so they are inspired to share their own stories with us.
Today, as I hang this show, I see how we all navigate “Here” in many different ways, even as our “Me” changes, or stays constant. I notice stories of climate change and gender change, war and asylum, nature and human nature, heritage and change, ancestors and children, citizenship and alienation, imagination and participation. What connections do you see? I hope this exhibit encourages you to tell your stories of people and place, too.
Participating artists: Cecilia Kalish, Carson Herrington, Dolores Fischer-Jenkins, Edith Sanabria, Eriko Masuoka, Girasol O’Neill, Guo Tieliu, Joe Gagliardi, Kara Billings, Katherine Young, Kenneth Krafchek, Kori Johnson, MaryLouise Marino, Sharmila Karamchandani, Sharon McDaniel, Sughra Hussainy, Susan Sterner, Sushmita Mazumdar, Tannia Talento, The Arlington Weavers, Yessenia Arias, and Z.
Enjoy photos of visitors to the exhibit below!
A Catalog
You may also order the exhibit catalog, a handmade book, “Me, Here:” Stories of People & Place here ($30 each). S/h extra.
A Podcast
Also, I was interviewed about the exhibit and the story shared on a podcast by Peter Stephens, where he captured the conversations which happened when two people stepped into the Studio to look at an object on display! Check it out here.
Photos:
Guests at our November Studio Tour. Photo, Kathy P.
October Family Art PAUSE where Sharmila teaches children about henna designs to make cards and Sush helps
After seeing the art of his friend Delores Fisher-Jenkins in the exhibit, Sheriff Jose Quiroz wanted to bring his team in to PAUSE! They came in February 2024 for a 2-hour Art PAUSE. He said their work was tough work and here they could do art, explore their vulnerable side
Students from Northern Virginia Community College’s Asian American Pacific Islander Center (Annandale campus) came for a Studio tour and bookmaking workshop in March 2024, as part of their book arts project, “Me, Here (at NOVA) and Elsewhere.” It was cool to have the exhibit catalog work as a text book where they could see many examples of how we tell stories of People & Place.
Photos:
Lloyd Wolf documents the renovation
Fall CPDP Walking Tour
Cassiel sees her mother and grandmother is the photos of Cafe Sazon and Cassiel’s Salon
Sarah Manrique Chiriboga visits with a friend and shows here her portrait
Carlos said he knew when this photo by Dewey Tron was taken. It was his birthday in 2009.
Exhibit 2:
“Me, Here:” Stories of Barcroft Apartments as told by the Columbia Pike Documentary Project
October 2023 - September 2024
“You will hear both hope and concern,
and the beautifully crafted and inspiring photographs document these faces and places.
We trust you will learn something of value from them.”~ Lloyd Wolf, Director, Columbia Pike Documentary Project
The Columbia Pike Documentary Project (CPDP) has been documenting our “world in a zip-code” through photographs and interviews for over 15 years. As we open the new Studio PAUSE space at the shopping strip, which is part of the Barcroft Apartments property, I wondered how much had already been archived of this neighborhood, and the people who live and work right here.
In this selection you will see the photos and interviews that show just that through the work of most of the team between 2008 to 2023: Paula Endo, Lloyd Wolf, Mimi Xang Ho, Dewey Tron, Lara Ajami, and myself. The video, showing the wider Arlington community along Columbia Pike, was created by Dewey Tron.
The Columbia Pike Documentary Project has published three books, Living Diversity (2010), Transitions (2018) and The Road Ahead, (2023). As Lloyd Wolf writes, “They are collections of in-depth interviews and portraits accompanied by an extended portfolio of striking photographs depicting this extraordinarily diverse and rapidly-changing community. It’s a fascinating plunge into the shared stories of a diverse community in transition. And it’s really beautiful, too.”
As Studio PAUSE embarks on its FY24 Historic Preservation Program grant project, “We Are Barcroft: A 60 Acre History of People & Place,” I wanted to invite the residents of Barcroft Apartments to experience the work of CPDP and be inspired to share their stories in their own way, reflecting on their lives and experience, through art and writing. We hope it inspires them to feel safe to share their stories. And know that their stories are important and part of Arlington’s stories too.
~ Sushmita Mazumdar, artist and founder of Studio PAUSE.
Enjoy photos of visitors to the exhibit here. Lloyd Wolf, director of the Columbia Pike Documentary Project, and Dewey Tron, one of the photographers on the team, both live near the new Studio and have stopped by to photograph renovations, events, and more. Many visitors also engage with the exhibit, recognizing people and places, sharing memories and stories. It is all documented in the catalog.
You can order the exhibit catalog, a handmade book, “Me, Here:” Stories of People & Place here ($30 each)
Exhibit 3:
“Me, Here:” Stories of People & Place as told by the Barcroft Apartments Community
May 2024 - August 2024
Join us for a Community PAUSE June 21 and 22
“We all have our personal lives, our religions, at home. But in America we are allowed to and encouraged to participate in, and have a national life. Different people working together.”
- G. Kabir, Barcroft Apartments resident
Since July 2023 we have met many residents of Barcroft Apartments through events hosted by our partner Gates Hudson and the Barcroft Resident Resources team. We were invited to their Movie Night, Summer Fest, and Hispanic Heritage Month event. We created PAUSE postcards for the residents, writing the word for PAUSE in four of the main languages used by them (English, Spanish, Bangla, and Arabic). We invited residents to color them in and bring them to the Studio so we could display their work in our exhibit. And they did! We also hosted their Black History Month celebration in 2024.
We also met residents through our partner BU-GATA’s tenants council meetings held at the Studio. Some other residents were walk-ins, were curious about our work. Others we met through an Open House organized by Arlington County.
As the residents visited over the months for Friday Family Art PAUSE, Community PAUSE events, Poetry and Writing PAUSE, we got to know each other. They shared stories, art, and food. They brought friends and relatives to visit.
When invited to participate in this exhibit, some residents were inspired by the works on display in Exhibits 1 and 2 on display at the Studio. They picked from what they had created and shared over the months, created new works, or brought something from home. We printed, framed, and organized it all. The community exhibit, growing on the wall as the weeks went by, was a new way for us to work—not on our terms but in a way the residents could best participate. As they figured out how to be part of an exhibit, all of them for the first time, we learned how to make it work. It taught us a new way to do the work we have chosen to do—different people working together!
~ Sushmita Mazumdar, artist and founder of Studio PAUSE, June 2024
We held our Community PAUSE over Friday evening and Saturday morning so all the people who were featured could attend. One of the participating residents did a karate demo. Two of the participating children sang and danced. Another resident brought friends as her video was about her childhood friends.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Screening 1, Friday, June 21, 2024: attended by 42 people
Screening 2, Saturday, June 22, 2024: attended by 8 people
Exhibit 4: “We Are Barcroft”
A 60-acre History of People & Place
June - Sept 2024
“I’m very happy to share a little of my history with you.
I also want to thank “Studio Pause” for opening
a space for us where we can share, learn,
and show our humanity, through art, a laugh, a hot cup of tea, and a box of chocolates.”- Ruben D. Sira, Barcroft Apartments resident
Since the opening of Studio PAUSE’s new Columbia Pike location, in a shopping strip on the Barcroft Apartments property, we applied for two Arlington County grants which would fund our work with the residents of Barcroft Apartments. One was Curating 4 Community Art Exhibits in the space, and the other, “We Are Barcroft” – A 60-Acre History of People & Place, has been to plan, launch, and develop a culturally specific arts-based community for the residents of Barcroft Apartments so they can engage in creative, community building projects through documenting cultural heritage.
Residents of affordable housing communities say they often feel invisible. We invited the residents of Barcroft Apartments to share their stories, making their voices visible, in the ways they chose to share. We also want to create a buzz of empowerment and excitement through our various projects with them. By inviting them to engage with Exhibits 1 and 2, it encouraged and inspired them to create works that are displayed in Exhibit 3, and some show up in the oral history videoes as well.
Studio PAUSE’s experience working with culturally diverse communities over the last 11 years has taught us how art-making is a powerful tool which serves the socio-emotional needs of communities, and an engaging prompt for telling stories. This is how we have begun to build a community across the sprawling 60-acres in Barcroft Apartments over the last year, and now we bring their stories into the mix of Arlington’s stories. We hope you enjoy these diverse and beautiful stories told by the residents which they are sharing for the first time here. These are also the stories of Arlington, Virginia.
~ Sushmita Mazumdar, artist and founder of Studio PAUSE, June 2024
We have worked hard on creating relationships with the residents of Barcroft Apartments over the last year and helping create a sense of belonging for them at the Studio through art, writing, and community events. Eventually we asked residents and business owners if they would like to join our oral history project so we could share the stories of Barcroft Apartments with the rest of Arlington and the world.
Some agreed and were thrilled, others hesitated. Some were terrified of the camera and others were shy of their language skills. Of course, we understood it all! I have worked with people and their stories for the last almost 20 years so I know many of these issues. However, this is the first time I am working with video and YouTube so it brings new challenges.
We are very grateful to those who agreed to participate as we have uncovered some wonderful and powerful stories. We have also found that people are terribly busy and it has been a challenge to get schedules lined up. But as we complete the videos we will post them, so stay tuned!
Join us for a Community PAUSE June 21-22 and watch the films on the dedicated monitor at the Studio.
EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!!
“Me, Here” Stories of People & Place as told by College Students
June 2024 - August 2024
Inspired by Exhibit 1 & 2, I took the project “Me, Here” to Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale campus). Read more about the project here. I decided to bring the “Me, Here (at NOVA) and Elsewhere” installation back to the Studio for the Arlington Writer’s Group to interact with the stories, so our mission to mix stories continues.
Meanwhile, another project wanted to be at Studio PAUSE and as it was also stories of college students, although told as voice recordings, I decided to add it to the installation so we learn the stories of college students in multiple ways! This was from Virginia Folklife program’s project United We Stand – Three episodes of stories from the With Good Reason podcast that explore the power and impact of American immigrant writers, including works from a Dream Project writing workshop with college students and emerging authors.