This ongoing project aims to encourage spatial ownership of local participants by providing the community an opportunity to create and realize visions of their urban environment. Desirable elements of the city are discussed and compiled either through on-site research or a workshop format, finding new and creative ideas to express what a city can be. These ideas are sketched, turned into stencils, printed, and collaged into one large representation of what the local communities want from an urban space.

The entire project, from stencil to print, is completed on post-consumer paper donated by visitors and community members and put together with biodegradable adhesive.

Istanbul | Kayıp Kağıt Şehri | Lost Paper City

Istanbul’s urban development is generally understood to be at the whim of Those With the Power to Make Decisions, in direct opposition to Those Who Are Affected. This binary of powerful and powerless exists within a conflict visible through mega-projects and skyscrapers, obscurıng more subtle ways in which neighborhoods organize and aging buildings settle into the urban ecology.

This project aims to suggest a kind of spatial self-definition outside of this binary for the inhabitants of both the neighborhood of Kurtuluş and the city at large. The specific types of buildings, structures and other elements included were inspired by conversations with city residents and observations of the neighborhoods near the venue. They were printed on paper donated by visitors and community members. The mural was installed over the week of the festival, with visitors supervising and contributing to each day’s work in a way that reflected the different attitudes and the challenges that arose each day. The piece remains on the wall and will deteriorate naturally.

This mural was installed as part of Mahalla: Palımpsest in September 2022. The final mural was 200x600cm, ink & wheat paste on found paper.

valletta | Lost Paper City

The goal of Vucijiet Beltin is to provide opportunities for fourth-grade students at St Gorg Preca College in Valletta to practice agency within their community and urban space. During my residency in Malta I was asked by the organizer to conduct a version of the Lost Paper City project. Over the course of four days the children identified elements they wanted in their city, drew and printed them on recycled paper. The prints were hung within the school near the auditorium.

This workshop was completed as part of Vucijiet Beltin in April 2023. The final mural collage was 80x60 cm, acrylic paint & wheat paste on found paper