Dynamic Face of Community |
a multimedia show and photo extravaganza |
Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. As individual stones, we can do little with them except compare them and judge their beauty value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic portraying the face of God, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That's community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.--- —Excerpted from Can You Drink The Cup? by Henri J.M. Nouwen I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several.
A multimedia show of up-close and personal photographic face portraits, combined with inspirational passages on democracy, civic engagement, and community involvement, from a Resources Unlimited Foundation educational program called Dialogues in Democracy. A continuously running four-hour video show featuring 500 or more high quality photographic face portraits, combined with dozens of inspirational and revealing passages about the challenges of building consensus. The facial portraits of change agents and ordinary citizens, taken and combined from a collection of 25,000 photos from the collections and archives of Resources Unlimited Foundation. The photos are from dialogues and other engagements over the last six years, from late 1999 through September of 2004. The dialogues help create social and political change in an increasingly pluralistic and interdependent culture. The portraits come from work with individuals and organizations, representing an array of social justice, political, academic, faith, social welfare, community, and civic groups.
The video show, derived from a series of focus groups dating back to 1998, will be run the afternoon of October 10, 2004, on permanent screens mounted on the wall in the lobby of Oak Park Public Library, with whom the Foundation is working in partnership, along with the Park District of Oak Park, to present the 9th Festival of Potluck Foods. Photos and textual passages are dynamically varied and combined from image to image, revealing a visual manifestation of the back-and-forth of human engagement, the natural give-and-take of human interaction, of people from all callings and backgrounds. There are eight basic design templates, and from image to image there is variety in background color, texture, rhythm, movement, timing, and interplay of illustrations and text. In a certain sense the overall design is potluck, is random, and grows organically from the Foundation's projects in civic engagement.
What will celebrants at the October 10 potluck see in this year's presentation? The best and most complete—though shortest—answer is, “not sure, really.” A partial answer is that the selection and arrangement of portraits and passages, like the potluck feast itself and its celebrants, is designed to illuminate human diversity in its visual and thematic richness, wonder, and complexity. The portraits, in fact, celebrate differences. They also combine to answer in a practical way the often-challenging issue and question of “the mentality of indifferentism.” Differences make a difference because…well…they are different. That's one answer. Another is that diversity is an important trait humanity shares. Diversity is the one thing we all have in common. Frequently the most compelling social and cultural and political systems of our times urge us to celebrate that fact of life everyday. The portraits celebrate differences in calling, background, faith practice, geography, class, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation, upbringing, educational and income level, capacity to effect change, and in our understanding of what attitudes and actions are needed to make things better. What one thinks will be needed to get the job done, another will think is not necessary. What one believes is the essence of democracy and democratic principles, another believes is a detail of democratic process only. The result in a particularized way is that each unique portrait celebrates unique facial textures (e.g., hard, wrinkled, soft) and expressions (e.g., serious, wry, humorous, delighted, joyous, sad, quizzical, intense, relaxed.) The show highlights the richness and wisdom of equity and parity, the similarities and differences in a democratic culture. It also showcases the idea that we are all of us in this together. The common good is revealed through the common good visualized. Living in human complexity is made apparent through the portraits and passages. The faces, for example, represent different approaches to progressive and thoughtful change, and the meaning of progressive and thoughtful varies from face to face. The portraits in their particularity and totality reveal the landscape of the face of humanity. Use of the visual medium in this compelling yet simple way helps to challenge old assumptions about who we are and to embrace new assumptions about human dignity and potential. In a certain philosophical sense, visualizing is often regarded as way of listening with the eyes and heart. The completely experiential presentation visualizes potluck celebrants from throughout the neighborhoods comprising the Chicago metro region, including citizens from Oak Park and contiguous villages and towns and cities, most especially Chicago. The celebrants are engaged in different occupations, living in an interdependent and complex region. Celebrants at the potluck feast will see the portrait of humanity before us—portraits from virtually every corner of the globe. The portraits foster understanding, new awareness, and respect by deepening the experience of the social harmony possible when we engage difference from person to person. There is no typical human look, and that’s an important categorical truth the presentation teaches. It shows and teaches cultural, social, educational, religious, and political diversity—women, men, wise seniors, excited children, questioning young adults, knowing or beguiled middle-agers, people with darker and lighter skin, and compassionate citizens celebrating or in contemplation of their efforts to build strong local communities and strong organizations to help support community development. Altogether the portraits—combined with the textual passages—often show the faces of people mindfully engaging the day to day, yearning for harmony and peace with themselves and the other in tumultuous times.
Similar Foundation presentations—not this same one—have been shown and staged at educational, faith-based, and civic conferences in North America since 1999. A shorter one-hour version was shown originally in 2000 at the Carleton Hotel as the keynote presentation for the educational conference of the Regional Exchange Congress with whom the Foundation served as a strategic planning partner. Participant responses have been favorable, occasionally enthusiastic. Each of the previous presentations has been uniquely adapted to the actual celebrants in attendance at the potluck feast by incorporating many of their portraits in the presentation. So too with this one. All are ways to affirm and value the contributions of change agents and citizens in building strong communities. For more information or to schedule a presentation: or 708-524-8387 Back to 2004 Festival |