The art of rejuvenation

Brian Hawkins, the director of The Color Project, thinks that Ensley —the small city between 1-20 and Minor Parkway, sandwiched between Bush Hills and Fairfield — has a perception problem.

“If you look at the police reports for Ensley, you’ll find it’s consistently one of the safest areas in the metro area. But the perception is that there are horrible things happening in Ensley,” Hawkins said. 

A major holdup for the Ensley reputation, Hawkins said, is that when the city of Ensley was annexed to Birmingham in the early 1900s, it was reduced to six neighborhoods. Because many of the street signs beginning with “ENS” were never changed, Hawkins said that people, including the media, often think Ensley is a bigger, broader area than it actually is.

Really, it’s more of a tight-knit community. “The media will call [other areas] Ensley because the street signs, but when I hear the address, I know the place they’re talking about is three or four neighborhoods away, sometimes three or four whole communities away,” Hawkins said. 

But the perception that bad things happen to Ensley, Hawkins said, is because people hear it on the news every night. Changing that perception is just one of many reasons that Hawkins started The Color Project. 

Hawkins, who runs the program with two other people, said it is intended to positively affect the social, mental and physical health of the people in Ensley. The Color Project involves installing public art, community gardens and pocket parks, as well as also working toward lighting changes and soundscapes.

“So the public art aspect helps people to take stake in their own community, “Hawkins said. “When you live in a community that doesn’t look so great, you don’t treat it so great, but if you live in a space and your space looks great, then you treat it great.”

It’s as basic as it was in elementary school when you are taught to clean up your area, he said, so that it looks good and feels good. 

Two years ago, The Color Project began when it won an annual grant competition from UAB’s School of Public Health. A mural has since been painted at 321 19th St. by Ukuu Tafari, a painter and mixed media artist. Though he has paintings and galleries across the U.S. and in some parts of Europe, this was the first one Tafari did for Birmingham, which also happens to be his birthplace.

Tafari was the first to paint a mural in Ensley, but Hawkins said he won’t be the last. 

Because the program is Ensley-centric, Hawkins said they first look for artists from Ensley, then in the areas surrounding it. They pay the artist for the public art contribution to the city, which lately, has been murals. 

The Color Project is currently working on its next piece of public art with artist Devonte Holt and curator Paul Barrett. Because downtown Ensley is an official historical district, all public art actions must first be approved by the zoning board. So far, Hawkins said, they’ve had great support from the zoning board, especially as this is an effort to “rejuvenate Ensley.”

Creative efforts have been done in a lot of individual cities, Hawkins explained, and have been shown to not only be a crime deterrent, but also to provide community members with psychological encouragement to stay in the space longer. 

“We know that though the study of the psychology of color, that cool blue color has a calming effect on people,” Hawkins said. “So if you change the lighting in the space to that color of blue, it has the effect of making people feel calm or relaxed.”

Hawkins said they now call themselves “pocket-funded,” meaning most of the money they use for the project comes out-of-pocket. For him, he said The Color Project is a labor of love.

The community garden aspect of The Color Project is designed to get people out of their homes and give them the opportunity to meet and work with their neighbors. In spring of 2018, they plan to build what they call the Contemplation Path, which is a walkway through a peaceful wooded area. 

“When you are familiar with the people around you, you are much more likely to look out for them,” Hawkins said. “So familiarity helps build community.”

They hope to get one started on the grounds of the Bethesda Life Center.

Hawkins is happy to be already seeing some of the intended purposes fulfilled in The Color Project. 

“So, now we want to have a bigger impact, want this to be larger, want more people involved, so we are creating more public art, and we are moving forward on more green spaces, just doing more creative space making in downtown Ensley,” he said. 

If you’re interested in getting involved with The Color Project, email Hawkins at afreevoice@gmail.com, or find them on Facebook at The Color Project Ensley.