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Gathering Inspiration

The Importance of Listening to the "Unheard"


"Listening Presence", written by a friend of my mother, Sandy Smith, encapsulates the importance of the first phase of this social practice art project : I had to go and listen.  After crunching the numbers from over 130 online surveys, I knew it was essential to go out into the community and hear from older adults directly.  I am passionate about documenting and raising the unheard voices in our community.  Our society wrongly discounts many people in our society based on things like race, ethnicity, gender, class, and age.  Age is the most universal factors through which too many people get ignored. Not only does the rich treasure of knowledge and wisdom reside in these folks, it turns out, they offer us a new perspective on how to be happier and enjoy our lives more!

​I had the amazing opportunity to interview over 40 unique and inspiring older adults in our community (by the end of the project).  I attended community sponsored events for Seniors along with going to visit Senior Connections' Friendship Cafés.  The Senior Connections Friendship Cafés occur at 27 locations around Richmond, including surrounding counties.  They provide a valuable opportunity for older adults to gather, have lunch, and stay connected.  They were the perfect venue for my gathering of these stories.  I also conducted a few independent interviews.  Click below to watch short videos from these 6 wonderful seniors. 
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Video Interviews

Helen
Char
Mahalia
Channie
Jeanette
Patsy
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The U-Curve of Happiness

My surveys and interviews reaffirmed some research that I had discovered called the U-Curve of Happiness.  This research showed that people's life satisfaction and happiness was greater at younger ages, dipped in midlife, and then actually got to the highest point at the latter end of life!  As someone balancing the demands of midlife, I found this very encouraging news! My respondents seemed to agree with this hypothesis. 

Other Interviewees:

Helen
Guy
Barbara
Beatrix
Brothers Joseph and Louis
Robert
Linda
Grace
Aida
Elizabeth
Catherine "Kitty"
Sally

Hands

I believe our hands are the delivery vehicle of our work, our caring and our creativity.  As I photographed my subjects, I also took the time to capture a photo of their hands.  My interviewees had worked hard with these hands.  They had cared, cleaned, clothed, loved and nurtured with these hands.  They also expressed their creativity with these hands.  Many were writers and artists with diverse talents.  Some were political activists and campaigners for justice.  Most of them would not brag about all the work their hands had done.  In fact, I usually had to drag that out of them.  Many were self conscious about how their hands looked and a bit reluctant to oblige in having them photographed.  I asked them to position their hands any way they liked as a way to see how they would express themselves.  I think they are all beautiful and represent the dignity of a life well lived.

Little Miracles

Throughout this project, I was struck by how things came together a bit magically.  My mother happened to share with me the poem by her friend, Sandy, that kind of summed up what this project was all about.  Then, when interviewing Channie at the Oakwood Friendship Café, and I asked to take a picture of her hands, she said she had written a poem about her hands! A small miracle.  It is a beautiful poem and I share it with her permission below.
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"These Hands (My Story)" by Channie Grant, Oakwood Friendship Café

You’d be amazed if you only knew
The thing these hands have done
From Alabama’s cotton farm
To New York City, they’ve  come
 
These hands carefully picked the cotton
From the bowls so white and fair
These same hands bursted the watermelon
We grew most anywhere
 
These hand cut the wood
For the fireplace and the stove
These same hands carried the wood
To the big wood alcove
 
With these hands I planted the garden
Stringbeans, onions, okra and beets
Collard greens, turnip and kale
White potatoes and yams so sweet
 
These hands cooked the meals
And baked the cakes and pies
These hands set the table
And swatted away the flies
 
These same hands mopped the floors
And washed the dishes clean
Rinsing them over and over again
Til one could see the shiny gleam
 
These hands swept the yard
As clean as dirt could be
The broom I used was often made
From the branches of a dogwood tree
 
These hands washed the clothes
On the scrub board strong and sound
The finished clothes were just as white
As snow in winter that graces the ground
 
​And then to New York City I went
To make a better life you see
I went to school an used these hands
To be the best that I could be
These hands learned to type
And mastered the keyboard well
Letters and memos were produced
How they did it I still can’t tell
 
And then the computer came around
My mind shivered at the thought
That these hands had to learn to use
This monster that the Firm had bought
 
I met and married a handsome guy
Who is the love of my life
Because these hands were so experienced
I became a super super wife
 
We were blessed with three children
Two great girls and a wonderful boy
The hands managed the tasks of motherhood
With unexplainable ease and joy
 
These hands are now in my senior years
And still going strong and helping others
These hands find so much joy and peace
In extending love to my sisters and brothers
 
Today I lift these hands in gratitude
To my heavenly Father above
He is the one who paved the way
For these hands to weather the storms
And show so much love
 
THANK YOU GOD FOR THESE HANDS!
 
 
 

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All images Copyright Colleen Phelon Hall © 2022
​Richmond, VA 23235 | 804-323-3036
  • Home
  • Pet Portraits
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    • Public Art >
      • Maggie L Walker Governors School
      • Transforming Perspectives >
        • Gathering Inspiration
        • Research and Design
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        • Installation and Celebration
      • Lewis Ginter
    • Residential >
      • Examples of Residential Projects
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