Facebook’s Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is giving the Marcus Garvey Park basketball court in Harlem a makeover thanks to a partnership with NYC Parks and the help of students from Publicolor.
To date, the FB AIR Program has commissioned 37 large-scale, site-specific installations right here in NYC from local artists, however, up until now, they have only lived within Facebook’s walls. As the program has grown, so has its commitment to the local community and the desire to share its work with the public, leading to the first of many public art projects to come.
The event will feature a new mural designed by NYC artist Saya Woolfalk in partnership with youth group Publicolor, participatory screen-printing workshops where members of the public are invited to make their own wearable bandanas featuring Saya’s artwork, food and drink by local vendors Harlem Shake and Cenkali Vegan Tacos, a DJ set by Prince Paul of De La Soul, and more.
Saya Woolfalk is a New York-based artist who uses science fiction and fantasy to re-imagine the world in multiple dimensions. Through a series of multi-year projects, Woolfalk has created the world of the Empathics, a fictional race of women who are able to alter their genetic make-up and fuse with plants. With each body of work, Woolfalk continues to build the narrative of these women’s lives and questions the utopian possibilities of cultural hybridity. In her design for Marcus Garvey Park, Woolfalk has turned the court into a fantastical, colorful mandala. Her court has been painted with the nonprofit youth development organization Publicolor, which uses design-based programs to engage at-risk students in education, college, and career.
The event is free and open to the public of all ages on a first-come, first-serve basis on June 2rd, 2019, 12 – 4 pm ET, at Marcus Garvey Park, NY.
Photo credit: By Luis Ruiz, Courtesy Facebook Art Department.
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