The Meaning in Making
The Meaning in Making was a Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC) funded project to expand the historical narrative of making in the 39203 zip code through community voices and academic research. Led by Anik Kurkjian, Director of Makerspace & STEAM Programs, The Bean Path pursued this initiative in recognition that collecting and reflecting on stories of making with their own community would deepen their relationships within the surrounding neighborhoods and begin to cultivate a shared language and understanding of the role of making in our lives.
As a Black-owned Makerspace operating in a historically African-American community with a renowned history of cultural production, The Bean Path empowers local makers not only with the equipment to imagine their future, but connects them to the story of making which is shaping their present. The planning grant funding provided by MHC has increased The Bean Path’s access to the historical narrative of their community and understanding of their own role in that historical narrative.
johnson worked with Anik to shape this community engaged art work toward centering The Bean Path’s Makerspace role in their 39203 zip code as being a resource convening local Makers to imagine and build the future. The two recognized that this must begin with the use of the word “Maker” which is not necessarily a commonly used term for the everyday creativity residents are engaged in. The Margaret Walker Center was brought in as a partner to help assess and be curious about the local history of making, Archivist Angela Stewart grounding our group in local history as a life-long resident while Jackson State University Art Historian Brittany Murtaugh assisted with additional research focusing in on the culture of making in 39175 from parades and local artists to trade crafts and the Liberty House cooperative craft stores of the Poor Peoples Corporation founded in 1965. While the historical research was being conducted, johnson advised Anik as she identified and built relationships with an intergenerational and interdisciplinary range of local Makers to participate in a group conversation and oral history collection. Working with long-time collaborator Monique Davis of the Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art, johnson and Davis led a day long gathering of conversation and a meal capped with interviews / oral history collection of the participating Makers.
daniel@significantdevelopments.us — Jackson, Mississippi