Face Up: Telling Stories of Community Life

Face Up: Telling Stories of Community Life, a collaborative public art project in Durham, North Carolina, engaged more than 1,500 people in a series of events hosted between 2007 and 2009 that fostered new connections and dialogue, expanded awareness of local history, and resulted in the creation of fourteen permanent public murals. The murals are now installed on the exterior walls of businesses, schools, and other publicly accessible places in downtown and Southwest Central Durham, and reflect the creative involvement of toddlers, elementary school children, middle and high school students, college students, professors, neighborhood residents, and elders—wealthy and working class; African American, Latino, Anglo, and Asian. The project opened artistic and documentary processes to many groups and individuals whose paths had never crossed. This project was the result of a collaboration between the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, University Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project, Duke University Office of Community Affairs, and the community of Durham city.