A property inventory of Cleveland tells one story about the state of neighborhoods, from broken sidewalks to distressed homes. But area artists came together to provide a different perspective, one that tells the story of Cleveland through the eyes of its inhabitants.
A by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and the City of Cleveland aimed to determine where to focus revitalization efforts, such as demolition of blighted properties or safety hazards like lead paint. More than 160,000 parcels were photographed and evaluated.
Artists responded to that work by focusing on how people exist in the neighborhoods they call home.
The resulting exhibition, 鈥淚mproper Frames,鈥� is presented by the Cleveland Print Room in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art through May 10 at Transformer Station in Ohio City鈥檚 Hingetown neighborhood.
鈥淲hen people think about a city, they think about the lives lived in it,鈥� said Kerry Davis, director of the Cleveland Print Room, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the art and appreciation of photography. 鈥淭here is a way that when people begin to talk about in terms of development and the built environment that some of that gets lost.鈥�
A collection of artifacts from a home preservation project. An image of vacant land where a church once stood. Childhood memories of playing on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. Those all are explored in 鈥淚mproper Frames.鈥�
"When people think about a city, they think about the lives lived in it."Kerry Davis, Director, Cleveland Print Room
Artists Amber Ford, Jon Gott, Michael Indriolo, Da鈥橲haunae Marisa, Vivica Satterwhite and Alejandro Vergara each offer an intimate view into Cleveland鈥檚 neighborhoods, forming a narrative that looks beyond what can be told through an accumulation of data.
鈥淲e all know that a photograph and a classification of your property based on a grade does not account for the wealth of emotions and attachments that you might be having with a particular type of land or with a particular type of structure,鈥� said curator Theodossis Issaias.
While the artists contend with the property inventory, Issaias said the goal is to move beyond that.
鈥淭o open different ways of evaluating conditions that are not based on development, demolition 鈥� But with a very different understanding, and more empathetic perhaps,鈥� he said.
One artist's perspective
Da鈥橲haunae Marisa grew up around the Lee-Harvard neighborhood on the Southeast Side of Cleveland. Not long ago, she inherited boxes of film and photo albums from her grandmother and great-grandmother. As a personal project, she鈥檚 been scanning pieces of her family鈥檚 history to create a digital archive.
The project expanded one day after she visited a thrift store and encountered boxes of old photographs. She said she was surprised how many there were 鈥� piles of unclaimed stories, a hidden documentation of the city鈥檚 history.
鈥淭hey were someone's life and someone's moments of happiness or joy or even sadness,鈥� Marisa said. 鈥淚 don't think they should just be lost.鈥�
Some of the photographs included addresses that she traced back to physical spaces around Cleveland. Many times, she鈥檇 encounter an empty lot where a home or business once stood.
鈥淚've been really fascinated by that process in particular of the destruction, degradation, demolition of these homes that end up as just vacant land that becomes a parcel,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd what I could do as a regular human being that's interested in preserving this space.鈥�
One photograph Marisa uncovered in the thrift store was a group of women standing in front of the Wilkins School of Cosmetology. From the 1930s through the 鈥�70s, the school provided a sense of community for Black women, along with skills to help them become financially independent.
The building, once located on East 46th Street, was demolished years ago, the empty lot a reminder of how cities can change.
鈥淚t's nice to still remember, you know, who was there, the life that they lived,鈥� Marisa said.
Surveying the land
According to the property inventory, more than 20% of all parcels in Cleveland are vacant lots, an increase from the previous inventory conducted in 2015.
That鈥檚 the result of increased demolition over the past decade to remove blighted properties, said Sally Martin O鈥橳oole, director of building and housing for the City of Cleveland.
鈥淭here is a story there that doesn't always get told,鈥� O鈥橳oole said. 鈥淲e look at it as statistical: 鈥榃ell, this neighborhood has had 30% of its properties foreclosed.鈥� What about the people that live there? That feels important.鈥�
Part of that story was written nearly a century ago, when banks could legally exclude certain areas of a city from receiving loans for homes.
鈥淲here we see a lot of distress right now, we saw with the redlining maps from the 1930s,鈥� O鈥橳oole said. 鈥淚t's the same exact map today where we have disinvestment, and we now have a disproportionate amount of demolition activity. So, I think it should highlight for a lot of people how we got here too.鈥�
O鈥橳oole said she鈥檚 walked through many abandoned properties where items like wedding albums, children's toys and clothing were left behind, leading her to think about the stories held within the walls of a home.
鈥淚 think exploring that through art is important work,鈥� O鈥橳oole said. 鈥淗opefully by seeing these humanistic stories about what's going on behind something like a property survey will make us more compassionate for our neighbors and really look deeper.鈥�
