Crafting Sustainable Community

Naomi Kuo Houston, TX
2021-24: This project explores the intersection of environmental and relational sustainability through gift giving. Over 6 months in 2021, Kuo made crafts out of the plastic wrappers, old fabrics and other upcycled materials that accumulated in her home over the height of the pandemic and gave them as gifts to friends and family. Her aim was to keep herself grounded with a hands-on creative practice while tending to the relationships around her. She also hoped to encourage community care as a mode of self care and to show the generative possibilities of simple acts of generosity.
Naomi’s Grantee Cohort
About

A joint project of the Ministry in the City HUB and Walls-Ortiz Gallery at City Seminary, the Creative Community Care Virtual Residency brought together socially-engaged Christian creatives from New York City, Indianapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Corsicana (Tx) for peer mentor support, learning, and sharing. In 2021, residents developed local projects in their respective cities, exploring creative practices of care in the context of community. Projects engaged the concerns and questions of the pandemic period (mutual aid, care re-imagined for social distance, etc.) at the intersection of the arts, learning, faith, and the city. In 2022, the resident pairs offered public online workshops. In 2024, a traveling group exhibition will be on display, starting in Santa Ana, CA.

Members
Dr. Alysia Harris
Olga Lah
Naomi Lawrence
Julian Reid
De'Amon Harges
Rev. Dr. de'Angelo DIA
Sophia Victor
Naomi’s Ministry
Program focus: Arts