A New Kind of Directing

Photo courtesy of Heriberto Rosas

On June 24th, 2021, supporters of Say Their Names Northfield gathered again to lift up the names of unarmed Black individuals who have been killed by police in the United States. We read names aloud from the ever-growing list of people lost to inequitable police violence over the last decade, in hopes of honoring them and not letting them slip from our memories. The origins of this practice stemmed from writing the names in chalk, week after week, in a public space in Northfield, Minnesota. Following the murder of George Floyd, this group of concerned community citizens felt the need to take an action, and the repetitive acknowledgement was our way of processing grief, supporting the Black community and bringing attention to the issue, which exists even in a rural Minnesota town.

And it has come with much resistance.

The Background

In the spring of 2021, after months of gathering and exercising our right to use a public space for silent protest, we were informed by our city that what we were doing was illegal. Citing ordinance sec. 50-27 of the municipal city code, our practice was considered defacing public property.

No person shall write, print, stick, post, or place any bill, placard or sign of any description upon the sidewalks or other public structure of the city.

We disagreed with the interpretation and continued our work until we started noticing that it was being washed away immediately after completion. The city had begun power washing the town square after receiving complaints about our actions. I found this disappointing for many reasons, but at the time I was most appalled by the waste of resources. We were wasting water. We were using up the time of city staff that was meant to be tending to public parks and structures. We were engaging in a sad Midwestern passive-aggressive war.

We reached out to city staff to help us better understand the ordinance and why we were able to engage in our work for so long before being cited now. To paraphrase a city staff member, the city had started receiving complaints from community members immediately after we started chalking names in June of 2020, but they weren’t aware of anything stopping us from doing so. After more digging and more complaints, someone uncovered the above mentioned ordinance. By the time this was discovered in late 2020, the weather was changing, snow was about to fall, and our group transitioned to gatherings that didn’t involve chalk because of the impossibility of writing on surfaces in winter.

The city staff member I spoke to said they hoped the issue (of systemic racism and inequitable police violence) would “blow over” and that by springtime, we wouldn’t engage in this work anymore. When I asked about how we could express ourselves, I was instructed that we could do something that would not leave behind a trace – hold signs, do something else.

You’re artists, you are creative and you’ll think of something.

After learning that we could be fined for the act of chalking on a public space, we decided to seek city-approved methods of moving forward. Because we used amplification when we spoke, we would need to apply for a permit for whenever we gathered. The city informed us that we could engage in chalking as long as it wasn’t left behind, stating that if we didn’t wash it away ourselves, we would be charged a fee for the grounds crew to power wash it for us.

We would later try and push this issue, offering to pay for the washing, at which point we were informed that staff did not have capacity to do so and our permit would not be approved.

Photo courtesy of Heriberto Rosas

The Design

Our frustrations with our city led us to create a design incorporating the idea of a need for transformation. Page Nelson created an illustration of a monarch butterfly, a symbol of an organism that completely transforms during its life cycle. This symbolism has also recurred in our leader Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo’s work, including her feature-length documentary Ways of Being Home, as well as other visual arts projects she has coordinated.

The Process

After we read the names aloud of unarmed Black individuals killed by police, we set to work on creating the design in chalk on the town square. Using Page’s sketches, I outlined the butterfly in light chalk, creating a type of paint-by-number for the other participants to fill in. I felt the leadership and empowerment that I feel on set in my film productions. I assigned tasks, people asked about their interpretations and I guided them. Some participants who were wary of participating in public art, considering themselves more of an advocate or activist than an artist, jumped in and gave it their best.

I was surprised by how well everyone took direction and how quickly it came together. The butterfly, which covered approximately 400 square feet, took only 20 minutes to fill in. If I would have tried to attempt this on my own, I know it would have taken me all day. Just like when I make a film, if I try to do everything on my own, I spend a whole lot more time and don’t get as good of results. Many hands made light work and we worked together as a team to make Page’s vision a reality.

Participants added the writing surrounding the butterfly to drive home the message, saying “We Need Transformation.” We as a culture need to transform ourselves into one that stands up when we are seeing injustice and disrupts the status quo. Particularly, as a white individual, I need to engage in more difficult conversations so I learn more and do better. It was never acceptable to remain silent when I saw injustices happening and I need to speak up to be a true ally.

Photo courtesy of Heriberto Rosas

The Erasure

I wasn’t prepared for how heartbreaking the closing of our activity would be. As a group, we had decided to avoid a fine from the city by washing away the artwork ourselves. After taking a few moments to bask in the work we had created together, we used the watering cans we had brought to douse the area, and washed away the work using brooms and water. The whole piece was gone in about five minutes.

I was surrounded by disappointed faces. We left mostly in silence but had a few conversations as we parted. Artist and activist Heriberto Rosas said it was some of our best work to date. We joked that the city should only charge us for the five minutes of labor it takes to remove the work. I wondered to myself whether we should have chosen civil disobedience and not complied with what was asked of us.

Artist and activist Heriberto Rosas filmed the entire activity with drone footage, documenting our work. This footage was edited by Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo, and can be viewed on her Vimeo page.