HOPE BODEGA
Client: Institute for Health Equity Research
at Mount Sinai & NYCEAL
In collaboration with: Riseboro, African Services Committee, Osborne Association
Team: Devin Madden, Timnit Berhane, Jacara Terry, Tomiris Shyngyssova, Scott Sell
Services: Participatory Design & Community Engagement; Public Health, Social Impact
A participatory project that encourages community members to gather stories of resilience through objects, photographs, scents, and sounds for a multi-sensorial exchange. These objects are meant to hold meaning for the community members, of peace, grounding and upliftment.
Design concept & Inspiration
Bodegas are special to New York City, and to those of us who call New York Home. The founder of the Bodega and Small Business Association, Francisco Marte, has called bodegas an “extension of the home” (Untapped New York), and many New Yorkers will understand why. We go to bodegas for snacks to bring to our park visits with our friends and family. We go to bodegas for early morning coffees on our way to work. We go to bodegas for toilet paper when we realize we only have one roll left. Bodegas are always there for us in a pinch. Many of us have come to know that we can rely on our favorite neighborhood bodega for life’s necessities.
Workshop Design & Implementation
The workshop was designed to include ~25 participants between ages 40-65 from the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. In smaller groups, members were encouraged to share their object and its significance through a show & share. As members exchanged their stories, others listened, laughed, cried, and hugged. From photographs of lost loved ones to handmade jewelery and self authored poems, we witnessed an exchange of life stories that brought everyone together.
Public Space Design
The objects were curated and installed in a temporary public space exhibition bringing our Hope Bodega to life. Each object was tagged with a QR code which you can scan and listen to the original narrative, becoming a part of the collective. The visual and spatial design was inspired by local bodegas in the Bushwick neighborhood in all its glory. From lights and flags to new product flyers in shades of neon. Vegetable crates were repurposed to create aisles, each stacked with more objects from people’s homes. A pile of red kidney beans in one corner, toilet paper in another, hand sanitizers, and magazines and recyclables from our homes made for storage containers - all perfectly completing the shelves.
Hope Bodega travels across communities in Harlem & Brownsville
Unlike designing for a museum or gallery space, these exhibits are conceptualized and designed in community centers. I tend to borrow, design, and develop using the infrastructure available at the site to transform the space into its own museum of sorts. The Hope Bodega has since adapted into “La Grande Place” at the African Services Committee and an audio experience at Osborne Association.
