Hello Neighbor Project
Hello Neighbor began as an idea I had that it might be beneficial for the children living in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods to begin a dialogue about change from their own point of view. I wondered what questions they might want to ask their new and existing neighbors? How would they begin a conversation? It turned out that one of the first and finest questions was, “Pancakes or Waffles?” The questions continued with deep dives, like, “What do you like to do on your birthday?” “Who is your best friend?” “If you had a super power what would it be?” And after these initial ice breakers, came the powerful, “Do you feel safe in your community?” and “If you could change anything about the place where you live, what would that be?” For one long time resident, it was many things, but also just that people didn’t say “hello” any longer.
Hello Neighbor began with this idea–that a simple ‘hello’ could create a lasting connection. My thought was that if we taught young people how to interview and photograph their neighbors they could begin a conversation that included them, that allowed for equal exchange. My hope was that these conversations would lead to investment from the community and that the young people would feel they held a place in that community as they transitioned from teenagers to adults. With the support of Caldera’s youth programs and a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Hello Neighbor traveled to six cities in Oregon, and worked with over 250 children and adults, becoming the state’s largest collaborative public art project.
Each portrait you see here is a collaborative effort. The children created a list of interview questions for their neighbors, then they sat down in a group setting and interviewed each neighbor; after the interview session they chose one sentence from the interview that they thought best represented their subject, or perhaps uncovered something you may not initially assume, as in Officer Victor’s statement,”When I was young I wish I had the courage to raise my hand.” The children then asked each subject to write this sentence out in their own handwriting. After the sentence was written, the children created a photographic portrait of the subject, adding the handwriting to their portrait in post production. At the end of each project’s timeline the children were interviewed and photographed by me (Julie Keefe) and the same process was completed. Every community that hosted Hello Neighbor held a large-scale public celebration for their neighbors, and every participant received a copy of their portrait. The project culminated with pairs of large-scale 5’x7′ photographic banners installed on the exteriors of buildings throughout the community; in some cases, hanging for years as the youth transitioned from middle school to college.
Hello Neighbor continues to be produced in a variety of scales and settings in communities throughout the Northwest. It received recognition as a semifinalist, in the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Coming Up Taller Awards, 2009 and was a Public Art Network year in Review Finalist – Americans for the Arts, 2009.