Intercommunity Collaboration: Ramona Williams, Kelley Prevard, David Bowman & Belinda Manning
Intercommunity Collaboration is a is a collective project exploring what it means to seed peace within a community. Seeding a Community of Peace brings together artists, children, and local residents to build a shared installation that grows through public participation.
Conceived by Kelley Prevard, Ramona Williams, David Bowman, and Belinda Manning, the piece invites people to add their own materials and ideas, reflecting the diversity of those who create it. Rooted in art as activism, the project believes true transformation starts with connection and intention, using creativity as a bridge to empathy, healing, and community.
Seeding a Community of Peace
Think globally, act locally…
We hear all the time that Peace among human beings is impossible. We live as if Peace is not elusive but illusive. There are over 250,000 “Peace Poles” around the world. These poles carry symbols of Peace and the words: “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in multiple languages. Yet, there is no Peace.
The classic definition, one that is used often is: “Peace is the absence of war”. Though the absence of war and other acts of physical violence are elements necessary for Peace to exist, it is far more. Peace exists beyond the boundaries and constraints imposed by emotional abuse. It is free from the kinds of assaults we perpetrate on the well-being of one another by turning our conversations into the mental gymnastics of “win or lose,” and in “win or lose,” there is no space left for Peace.
We love when we move among our Muslim brothers and sisters. When they drop the love notes: “As-salamu alaykum” which literally translates, “Peace be with you”, and love even more when we can respond without missing a beat: ““Wa `alaykum As-salam”. We’ve experienced the Peaceful sanctity of the Sabbath, as well as Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. We have bathed in friend’s greetings and the depth of Shalom. For us, one of the most heartfelt and meaningful portions of the Christian worship services is when congregants are invited to move towards each other and exchange the “Peace”. When we are included in, or insert ourselves into any of these spaces, we experience the magic and Power of Peace as it moves through the many—from one to another. Everyone intentionally focused.
The intention of this installation is to move each of us to have the courage to extend ourselves across the boundaries that we have erected against the “other”. The other Religion... The other Race... The other Political dis-ease... A different Age designation... The other Gender... Here, in the Ministry of ARTeriors, lets take the opportunity to practice moving towards one another
rather than away from each other... extending “Peace” as if we believe that we belong... to each other.
Belinda Manning came to art as an expression of her activism in the latter part of her life. She found that marching...singing... yelling... sitting in, sitting out and just being downright ANGRY were narrow ways of thinking about how to create change. When she began writing and added acting/theatre to her "tool" kit it became clear that there was a more "effective" way to create change. True transformation requires more. Transformation requires clear intention, and recognition that the tools of the transformation have to be consistent with where you want to go...the transition. Know before you go, and use that knowledge to create the vehicle. And then, formulate your message... ARTFULLY. ART creates a pathway to the HeART unattainable through other means. And, it is that connection... that opening... that awakening... that connects us to each other. It has the power to literally "move" us. A Quincy Jones quote... "If you have something important to say, don't say it... sing it.”