'100 People' Series

Over the past decade, I have been making site-specific, collaborative public art projects with Omaha based non-profits who serve a community and social justice mission. Partners include the Immigrant Legal Center, Refugee Empowerment Center, InCOMMON Community Development, Omaha Housing Authority and Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance. For the series, I’m designing, carving, printing, and installing 100 individual woodcut portrait murals of activists and advocates throughout Omaha. Each portrait is 8 feet tall.

The process of the project is straightforward: I invited models to my studio whom I admire. The model chooses how they wish to be seen, wearing what they wish, and posing how they wish. The model is crafting a message that will project for a generation or two, eventually being seen by someone who may want to know about their view of the world. Then, I draw and carve the woodcut before printing it on archival outdoor materials which are install in every neighborhood I’m able to reach. – Watie White