The title of the community art piece made in Fleur de Marie is “Kontekta”. The hands and feet portrayed in the floor art stand for the human connection and the connection through play. When playing together, for example during sports you help each other up when you fall, you give each other a high five and you have respect for each other. That should be the same in a community.
The project needed quite some preparations. First we needed to inform the inhabitants about the project and invite them to participate. We made an info flyer, which included a blank area where they were asked to start writing or drawing their ideas. We went door to door with it and invited them to the brainstorm session.
During the brainstorm session with the neighborhood, lots of youth showed up and a handful of adults. With a little help of the W.Y.S-team lots of ideas came forward! The one that stood out the most is that the community used to be more united and the inhabitants would like for that to grow back. With this information graphic artist BLEND a.k.a Sander van Beusekom , one of the 2 founders of What’s Your Story?, made the design showing the “human connection”.
The renovation of the sport field in Fleur de Marie was a project initiated by Fundashon Rebiba Skalo Abou. The project entailed fixings of the field, placement of new protective fences and because Scharloo Abou is slowly growing into the creative district of Curaçao they decided that it would be a great idea to turn it into colorful art piece! For that part What’s Your Story? was asked to collaborate.
Most important to mention is that the creative part of this community project has been made WITH THE HELP OF THE YOUTH FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD guided by What’s Your Story?. Also important is that through a project like this, the youth and other people from the hood feel a greater ownership of the art & sport field in their area and will take better care of it, because it is also their efforts put into it.
A big shout out to the W.Y.S-kids of Fleur de Marie!!! We would have liked if a few more adults would have helped during the painting phase, but the enthusiasm of the kids sure made up for it! They were unstoppable and very keen to help! Even though the project has passed and the artwork remains, you can still learn about it because we made a very inspiring making-off video about this unique project in Curaçao! It has been made by Nicole van Beusekom a.k.a. Smart Capture, the other founder of W.Y.S. Check it out by clicking on the image below!
After the completion of the project there was a small celebration. Stadsherstel and Monumentenzorg whom initiated and partially funded the project through fundashon FRESA invited the inhabitants and the parties involved to celebrate! Partners Active Chance were thanked for helping with funding. Sicon BV for construction, Dijtham for the fences, Sherwin Williams for the special floor paint & coating, FDDK for the lining, ArtView for the signs, CAB Opleidingsfonds, IMD Design. These organizations were all involved one way or another, some either contributed financially, others in kind and again others helped out through discounted fees to support this positive community development in the upcoming district of Curaçao.
One of the popular things to do in Curacao nowadays is discovering the creative district Scharloo Abou! The number of street art pieces keep on growing and together with the monumental heritage, the restaurants and local community Scharloo Abou is well worth a visit! So we invite you to venture into Fleur de Marie to discover this new art piece in Curacao!
