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Gallery -- Global Art Project 2002

Gallery -- Mary Gravelle

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Photo artwork: Bethany Sax for the Global Art Project 2002, www.global-art.org 
Text and story written by: Bethany Sax

The following text appears on the artwork:
The Rainbow Tribe crossing to Manhattan happens daily. Many multi-colored members come together to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. They cross alone, in pairs, or even with their families. They come to work or just play. They come on skateboards, on bikes and roller skates, in strollers. They walk or they run. A number of them may not have wanted to make the trip, they are far from home and tired. A certain woman is happy, smiling, this is her 90th birthday. One young boy eats a hotdog. No one is crying. Some turn around to cross back to Brooklyn, others stay in Manhattan. Either way, they connect for a common cause during their trek and have become the Rainbow Tribe.

Global Art Project 2002 for exchange partner Julie-Christine Mugisha

julie-christine mugisha,  makizafr@yahoo.fr, po box 5819, bujumbura,   Burundi  (257) 218-681

March 16, 2002 was the day I began working on my Global Art Project with a wise woman, Mary Gravelle, who had an afternoon of brainstorming at her company called Wisdom Painting and Art. 

A seed of an idea developed that day. I heard or imagined Global Peace for the world would be when inhabitants realize and accept that they are members of a Rainbow Tribe - all shapes, sizes and colors with various talents working together. I wasn't sure how to illustrate this idea. Originally I tried using oil paints which are very new to me. I tried painting this idea over the following months and nothing seemed to be right. Finally, I decided to switch from paint and use my cameras, both print and digital, an art form with which I am much more experienced and comfortable. But using these tools - still how was I to illustrate this - where would I find a Rainbow Tribe to photograph?

I decided to take the train into New York City where I would surely find a Rainbow Tribe! I did not know exactly where to find them but headed south on the island of Manhattan. I took the subway and happened to get off at the City Hall stop. I still was not sure where I was headed.

I surfaced from the depths of the subway tracks and started wandering. It did not take long. I turned around and towering in the distance was the glorious Brooklyn Bridge. Thousands of people, MEMBERS OF THE RAINBOW TRIBE, trickled over the massive structure, a fabulous engineering feat, that stretches over the East River connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan.

I took many photos of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge that day. They were all shapes, sizes and colors. I took a rest on a bench after a time and talked with a New York City junior high school mathematics teacher. He told me that at one time his students were lacking inspiration and he did not know what to do. 

He went to his boss, the school principal, who suggested he take his class for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. The principal said that a walk over this historic bridge together, joining the mathematics class with so many people from all over the world, would bring them together to appreciate the bridge, the city and it's varied inhabitants. 

I hope these pictures give Julie-Christine in Africa a feel for what the school children and the RAINBOW TRIBE experienced when walking the Brooklyn Bridge.

Best,

Beth Sax, bsaxjack@aol.com, 210 Sheephill Road, Riverside, CT 06878 203-698-2004
July 26, 2002

Global Art Project, www.global-art.org Donations are being accepted for the 2004 exchange.

Bethany Sax
Jack-Of-All-Trades Productions
Production of Events, Parties & Other Creative Projects
22 Lafayette Place, #14
Greenwich, CT 06830
203-625-8112
bsaxjack@aol.com 

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Posted: August 16, 2002
Written by Bethany Sax

© 2002 Bethany Sax

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