Youth Voices
A Name Buried in the Dirt by Vania Luna Gutiérrez
“Youth Speaks partnered with Manifest Creative, a team of Bay Area filmmakers, photographers, and writers, to co-create a series of visual stories that take the viewer into the daily lives of four young poets. Whereas much of the media documenting youth spoken word focuses on polished stage performance, this multimedia installation gives a more nuanced and intimate look into the creative process. A poem does not begin or end on the stage. It writes itself in the messy, awkward, and a joyous swirl of a young person’s lived experience. Through a blend of B-roll, studio, and performance footage, each video captures the raw and rich emotional universe from which the poem emerges. Embedded in a white board, this exhibition invites the viewer to engage, interact, and respond to Youth Speaks prompts inspired by the featured poets’ words. The stories presented here weave together narratives that are personal and political, that give voice to memory, and imagine an unwritten future. From the initial brainstorm to installing the show, every decision reflects a symbiotic peer-to-peer process wherein the poets and filmmakers negotiated the terms of representation. This is an attempt at contributing to a visual grammar that doesn’t merely include “diverse voices,” but is produced for and by them.”
Vania Luna Gutiérrez, Artist | Youth Speaks Collin Young, Director | Manifest Creative Olivia Avilla, Co-Producer | Manifest Creative Isa Nakazawa, Co-Producer | Youth Speaks Exhibit currently ON VIEW at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco until August 4th
