No “Blank Canvas”: Public Art and Gentrification in Houston's Third Ward

TY - JOUR

T1 - No “Blank Canvas”

T2 - Public Art and Gentrification in Houston's Third Ward

AU - Wright, Willie Jamaal

AU - Herman, Cameron “Khalfani”

N1 - Funding Information: 10The NEA provided funding support for PRH’s initial efforts. The NEA also provided funding support for Third Ward TX, the documentary that chronicled PRH’s humble beginnings and its impact on the Third Ward. More recently, Rick Lowe was honored with a 2014 Genius Grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the American Anthropological Association

PY - 2018/4

Y1 - 2018/4

N2 - Public art and urban renewal have become integral to reconstructing urban landscapes. In this essay we assess how these two spatial practices converge and diverge in the historically and predominately Black community of the Third Ward in Houston, Texas. The essay examines the work of MF Problem and the Black Guys, two Black artist collectives based in the Third Ward. We argue that their public performances critically engage the spatial processes of gentrification and ghettoization in their neighborhood. Furthermore, these performances indicate a unique spatial imaginary held by Black artists that privileges the use value associated with long-term residents’ views of public and private space over the potential exchange value rooted in urban renewal projects.

AB - Public art and urban renewal have become integral to reconstructing urban landscapes. In this essay we assess how these two spatial practices converge and diverge in the historically and predominately Black community of the Third Ward in Houston, Texas. The essay examines the work of MF Problem and the Black Guys, two Black artist collectives based in the Third Ward. We argue that their public performances critically engage the spatial processes of gentrification and ghettoization in their neighborhood. Furthermore, these performances indicate a unique spatial imaginary held by Black artists that privileges the use value associated with long-term residents’ views of public and private space over the potential exchange value rooted in urban renewal projects.

KW - Black Geographies

KW - Gentrification

KW - Houston

KW - New Genre Public Art

KW - Texas

KW - Third Ward

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043357061&partnerID=8YFLogxK

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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ciso.12156

DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/ciso.12156

M3 - Article

SN - 0893-0465

VL - 30

SP - 89

EP - 116

JO - City and Society

JF - City and Society

IS - 1

ER -