Comfort Zones

Comfort Zones, 2024

During a year-long residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my research on Gulf + Western Industries’ historical legacies in the city led me to learn about current-day real-estate development projects that, like many similar projects across the country, lack proper community buy-in and sustainable benefits. I teamed up with former Kent County Commissioner, Kurt Reppart, and invited a group of developers, elected officials, representatives from economic development non-profits and grassroots organizers to dinner party. I shared some of my historical research about publicly subsidized projects from past decades, and the catastrophic impacts of not holding developers accountable. After my short presentation, guests ate food from local immigrant restaurants on a cyanotype table cloth printed with newspaper clippings about these projects.

Reppart facilitated the dinner conversation around the question: What would it take for you to celebrate a development? Following the dinner, I made decorative pillows, embroidered with quotes from the dinner conversation. The pillows, given to each participant were meant to bring pleasure into a process that involves difficult decisions, create space for political dialogue within domestic spaces where the pillow might live, serve as a reminder of the possibilities of dialogue and change.

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"What institutions are trusted by the community"

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"No new plans until past promises are kept"

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"Social policies benefit developers too"

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"The environment must inform redevelopment"

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"The larger the project, so too the accountability"

Tablecloth detail

Dinner party with stakeholders at DreamPirate gallery

Dinner party with stakeholders at DreamPirate gallery

Comfort Zones, 2024

During a year-long residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my research on Gulf + Western Industries’ historical legacies in the city led me to learn about current-day real-estate development projects that, like many similar projects across the country, lack proper community buy-in and sustainable benefits. I teamed up with former Kent County Commissioner, Kurt Reppart, and invited a group of developers, elected officials, representatives from economic development non-profits and grassroots organizers to dinner party. I shared some of my historical research about publicly subsidized projects from past decades, and the catastrophic impacts of not holding developers accountable. After my short presentation, guests ate food from local immigrant restaurants on a cyanotype table cloth printed with newspaper clippings about these projects.

Reppart facilitated the dinner conversation around the question: What would it take for you to celebrate a development? Following the dinner, I made decorative pillows, embroidered with quotes from the dinner conversation. The pillows, given to each participant were meant to bring pleasure into a process that involves difficult decisions, create space for political dialogue within domestic spaces where the pillow might live, serve as a reminder of the possibilities of dialogue and change.