Brought on the Feels: A roundtable debrief of the public art project, We They

Abstract

We They was a public art project created by staff and young people from queer youth services organization Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI)1 in collaboration with a faculty member, alumnus, undergraduate and graduate students from New York University (NYU)2. HMI and NYU are two different kinds of learning institutions located a mere block apart in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighbourhood. In the following roundtable discussion, project collaborators discuss their experiences working on the project and how the resulting artwork impacted them. Their discussion addresses themes such as transformative pedagogy, photographic portraiture; young queer people of colour, activating urban space and trust.