The Shape of Us was a community art project facilitated by myself and my fellow collaborator, Emily Hippert between 2016-2020. Using shadow theater and multi-media performance we bring together diverse, conflicted, or historically opposing groups in the spirit of dismantling social systems of oppression and de-mechanizing personal blocks, moving toward connection, awareness, empathy, and healing.
Grown Up/Child was a series of shadow theater workshops conducted between two discreet groups: A 5th grade class at Harding Elementary in El Cerrito, CA, and a group of women residents at Berkeley Food and Housing Project's Women's Shelter in downtown Berkeley. The workshops made use of video to film shadow theater devised and performed by workshop participants. These films were shared each week with both groups. Each group then performed shadow theater in response to the videos, and these performances were in turn shared with each group. Thus the medium of shadow theater allowed for confidentiality while video provided a means for each group to connect and communicate virtually, developing a dialogue through gesture, mirroring, and poetry.