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As part of a larger Youth Volunteer Corps program addressing racism with non-violent direct action, more than 50 local students from 14 schools contributed their voice and perspective to a large art piece currently on display at Berks County Community Foundation. The work was on display through the front window of the Berks County Community Foundation throughout February 2021, and now has a permanent display at the Berks County Courthouse. Each student contribution highlights what the youth of today hope for tomorrow in regards to race, diversity, justice, and inclusion while only using six words per statement.
The display was created in collaboration with local artist, Robert Pepper, who recreated the students’ “Stand Together Against Racism” (STAR) logo as an 8-by-16 foot, three-dimensional platform on which to amplify youth voice. The students’ art consisted of short sentences and images embodying their thoughts, experiences and hopes about race and our path forward. The piece, entitled “YVC Voices for Justice, Equality, and Inclusion” is a powerful expression of the students’ collective consciousness.
See the Building Process by Robert Pepper by clicking HERE!
“The idea of covering the structure with artistic statements personal to the participants, in a sense obliterating it as well as metamorphosing it, [is] quite a powerful statement ... my objective is to strive to help the community realize itself through an artistic endeavor, I feel my only job is to help provide a platform upon which [the students] can achieve that,” said artist Robert Pepper about the collaboration.
Karleigh Patton, an Exeter High School senior and core member of the STAR program said, “There is nothing more powerful than having people of all backgrounds come together to create something like never before… I can only hope that it gives even the slightest glimmer of what STAR truly means.”
“The students’ words on this piece speak as a powerful testament to this youth equity movement and their desire for positive change. The structures created by the artist have given them a large and visible platform for their voices,” Christi Terefenko, Executive Director for VOICE Up Berks.
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