The World We Want is Us.

The World We Want Is Us was a large-scale projection project displayed onto the ICA’s facade during the 1708 Gallery’s 2020 Inlight Festival. Visual content was created by artists and Southerners On New Ground (SONG) members Shazza Berhan and Laura Chow Reeve. They co-created a series of visuals that combine text and imagery to envision a new future for Richmond. For instance, one depicts protest as a form of community care; another presents a future in which investments in the public good through health care, housing, education, and the arts leads to safer, happier communities. The artists hope for a time “in which conditions have changed and we no longer have to fight for dignity and basic safety, building on the work of local organizers, activists, and advocates who have been working for justice, reformation and liberation.”  

Dustin Klein was responsible for working with the artist to provide a visual template, or “coloring book page”, and integrate their imagery into digital projection mapping displayed vibrantly and on the strangely shaped wall in a very busy intersection of Richmond, VA.

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Installation view, ICA at VCU: In image, background: Southerners On New Ground (SONG) members Laura Chow Reeve and Shazza Berhan, The World We Want is Us, 2020. A Commonwealth project in conjunction with InLight. Projection by Videometry. In image, foreground: Duron Chavis’ Commonwealth commission, Resiliency Garden, 2020. Photo: Stephanie Smith