Leila Tamari | SWF Human-in-Residence
From February 21 to March 24, Sweet Water Foundation welcomed Leila Tamari to The Commonwealth as a Human-in-Residence. During her residency, Leila was fully immersed in hands-on, daily work with the SWF team - from agriculture and carpentry to civic arts. Her residency culminated on March 24 with an artist talk at Civic Arts Church to the SWF community in Civic Arts Church, through which she shared the impact of the residency on her perception of value. Read on to learn more about Leila and her time as a SWF Human-in-Residence.
Humans-in-Residence at Sweet Water Foundation
Humans-in-Residence are artists and community practitioners of various mediums and practices who engage in Regenerative Neighborhood Development at The Commonwealth for a specific duration of time, ranging from 1 week - 1 year. Humans-in-Residence are immersed in daily onsite flows - aka real work - with the SWF team and community to ground their residency experience in the routines, rituals, and reflections (the 3 R’s) that are essential to cultivate the land, build community, and regenerate neighborhoods.
Beyond daily flows, Humans-in-Residence also engage and exchange in Civic Arts. SWF cultivates a unique practice of Civic Arts as a foundational element of building Public Trust. Civic Arts encompass an interdisciplinary and inclusive means to strengthen neighborhoods and provide vibrancy and character to public spaces. The practice of Civic Art goes beyond typical “social practice” and/or “public art,” which offer symbolic, short-term gestures that highlight issues of social justice, equity, and the like but fall short of action. Civic arts, instead, cultivate meaningful change in both the built environment and social fabric of the neighborhood. Civic arts ensure the viability of civic spaces by conserving new and heritage art objects, blending beauty and meaning with function.
Leila Tamari | Human-in-Resident | February-March 2023
Sweet Water Foundation first connected with Leila in 2013 when she worked with Creative Time, and SWF’s work was highlighted during the 2013 Creative Time’s Summit focused on Art, Place, and Dislocation in the 21st Century City. Later, Leila and SWF collaborated via Artplace America’s National Creative Placemaking initiative. Over the years, we remained connected. As Leila transitioned to lead This Place Works, refresh her artistic practice, and make Chicago her home, SWF invited her to join as a Human-in-Residence in February 2023.
Leila sought to explore the concept of VALUE during her residency - Who, What, Where, When, and Why determines value? - a focal point of her artistic practice. As is always the case, her residency began with a period of Disorientation. As she weeded and watered the hoop houses to cultivate life and deconstructed pallets once destined for the landfill, she also began to deconstruct what value truly means. Her understanding of value evolved throughout the residency through physical labor performed in fellowship with an inter-generational and interdisciplinary mix of Humans of Sweet Water.
Leila’s Human-in-Residency culminated in an artist talk entitled Reflections on Value in Civic Arts Church on Friday, March 24. Members of the Sweet Water community were invited to learn more about Leila’s lineage, artistic path, and the impact of being a Human-in-Residence at The Commonwealth through a presentation centered on the notion of Value. The event culminated with a dynamic panel discussion that Leila facilitated with SWF Urban Ecology Peer Mentor Alyssa Hines and SWF Fellow-in-Residence, Phoenix Lewis. Together they engaged in a moving discussion on art, community, power, and neighborhood transformation as they collectively deconstructed and reconstructed the notion of value.
Sweet Water Foundation is delighted to have had the opportunity to host Leila as a Human-in-Residence and looks forward to continuing to stay connected in the years to come.
There GROWS the neighborhood!
