John Ellsberry
Lionel Foster
Peter Quinn
Combining the creative talents of writer Lionel Foster with multidisciplinary artists Peter Quinn and John Ellsberry sparked dialogue about race and the current environmental movement. With Baltimore communities and sustainable living as their focus, Ellsberry, Foster, and Quinn propose a greater convergence of race, class, and environmentalism. Although these Baltimore natives come from disparate backgrounds, their work represents a singular perspective: Our basic need for clean, livable spaces, they say, can undercut any social division. This idea led to the title of their own campaign, "Black + White = Green."
photo by Mitro Hood
by John Ellsberry, Lionel Foster, and Peter Quinn
Is the green movement too white?
"When Urbanite approached us, there was little in the form of direction," writes Lionel Foster. "Early on we agreed on some sort of spectacle, something for the eye, and something with a social component. It had to pose some question about where we were collectively and spark a dialogue in response. We started batting around big words such as race, gender, and class. How could you tackle such huge concepts in such a small space? We kept talking about Baltimore, about the city's disconnectedness and multiplicity. We thought and laughed and meandered, took breaks and met again, but the segregation remained a constant. It kept insisting on being our target, so we slowly took aim ..."
What if you had to duck every time you heard the sound of a firecracker or a backfiring motorcycle because it was more likely to be a gun?
What if your kids walked through alleys strewn with trash and dead animals on their daily route to school?
