A Conversation with Artist Anthony Posada
This summer, genEquality ran three summer programs in New York City: two community-based programs with youth in Harlem, and one in Queens at Townsend Harris High School (THHS).
Below is a short interview with our Queens-based artist, Anthony Posada, who worked with THHS students and led them through the mural design process, art skills workshops, and painting process. Under Anthony’s educational and artistic leadership, THHS students co-created a new Nudge Art mural at Townsend Harris High School. Read on for more insight into how the summer program went…and see the final mural design!
genEquality: What was your role in this summer program and Nudge Art mural? How did you approach your role?
Anthony Posada: I saw my role in this Nudge Art program as helping the students distill and express their ideas about a culture of openness, safety, and inclusiveness and co-creating a living mural design that they would be proud to display on their school and with the larger community. Since I was familiar with the genEquality activations, I understood the concepts that the students were drawn to and the issues that they agreed to represent in their mural.
I approached my role confident of the students’ creativity and open to their diverse views on how to manifest the ideas they choose to create. I was there to co-create, to learn how to weave the talents and skills that each of the students brought to the program into a cohesive whole.
gE: What lessons do you think resonated most with the students?
AP: I noticed that the students resonated the most with the lessons around developing a culture of openness informed by their actions, a culture of care where the idea of seeing is believing is lived to the fullest extent.
How did you facilitate the mural design process with the students?
We approached the mural design process with a model of consensus. We started off with a brainstorming session where every idea was discussed and supported by the student that was proposing it to the group. We then took all of those proposals and went through them one by one and we would work towards consensus for each of them. Ultimately, every idea that made it into the mural, from the main design to the final color scheme, was something that the entire group had an opportunity to discuss.
gE: What skills were you hoping to impart to the students?
AP: I was hoping to leave the students with the understanding that we can take broad concepts and step away from being too literal and represent them through color and design.
What changes or growth did you observe in the students throughout the program?
AP: I observed that the students became comfortable with how they worked on the wall. At first, they were shy and reserved in how they would use the brushes and the spray paint on the wall. However, towards the end of the first day of painting and all throughout the second day it was tangible that they had developed the confidence to paint the wall and not hold back on their creativity.
gE: What were your biggest takeaways from the program?
AP: If you believe in the students, believe in their artistic capabilities, encourage them to express themselves, give them the space and tools to transform their environment…then they will make wonders and defy the norm.
gE: Do you have any favorite moments or memories from the program?
AP: My favorite moments revolved around the mural design process and the actual wall painting. Watching the students sketch their ideas and then discuss how they believed their proposals captured the ideas of equality and respect was a wonderful experience. However, the favorite moment was when we finalized the mural and all the students were besides themselves impressed that they had brought to life a sketch into a mural painting and proud of their work and commitment.
gE: What are your hopes for the students’ continued growth and their commitment to advancing equality and inclusion?
AP: I hope the students continue to see and use art as an agent of change and a tool of organizing, that they continue to disrupt biases and promote inclusive safety in all of their work using the knowledge that they gained, and that this experience of painting a mural can be used as a seed for more community activations in the future.
