This edition of the Inside Out Project in Lynn, Massachusetts features portraits of 127 local youth, hand-painted and embellished by Keif Schleifer and local high school student, Damianny Garrido. Keif curated and installed this series on the wall of the Lynn Community Health Center, directly across from an all-accessible COVID-19 testing site. Let’s just say… it felt like everyone who passed by knew a child on the wall.
Special thanks to the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc, The Haven Project, Lynn Public Schools, KIPP Academy, St Mary’s, Family and Children’s Services of Lynn, Leap for Education, and more for opening your doors to Beyond Walls for awesome creative activities and important conversations while taking these portraits. The youth tell it like it is, and we were honored to learn their truths.
About Inside Out — On March 2, 2011, JR won the TED prize at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and called for the creation of a global participatory art project with the potential to change the world. This project is called INSIDE OUT.
Inspired by JR’s large‐format street “pastings,” INSIDE OUT gives everyone the opportunity to share their portrait and make a statement for what they stand for. It is a global platform for people to share their untold stories and transform messages of personal identity into works of public art.