Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
We called this installation Mutual Aid to celebrate the way that neighborhoods rise together when everyone pitches in a helping hand as needed.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
It consists of a circular plaza in the middle of Lykins Square Park, with benches, concrete surface design, and 608 high-fire ceramic tiles.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
When we joined the project the community was already working with a landscape design firm (Plaid Collaborative Landscape Architects, click image for link), who had already helped to shape the core ideas – to create a welcoming space in the park that would feature the hand prints of neighborhood residents and stakeholders.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
The vision evolved over four years of design iterations, community engagement events and a series of implementation phases.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
The open hands reflect the neighborhood’s motto “Neighbors Helping Neighbors”. We liked the way the reaching gesture also suggests the greetings and connections that would later happen at this gathering spot.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Lykins wanted a design that would create a welcoming space for community members to connect, gather for celebrations, watch sports and play with their kids.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
They also wanted it to be colorful to reflect the cultural diversity of the neighborhood, and to last long enough for local kids to revisit as adults and remember their participation in the project.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Using handprints ensured that many individuals would quite literally leave their unique mark on the neighborhood, but also created the opportunity for a series of community engagement events.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Whittier Elementary School was a major collection site for handprints. These children, and the dedicated staff who help them grow, are the future of the community.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Here, Lykins artist Fai Beal is showing children how to ink their hands and press their unique palm print onto card stock for scanning. Fai also collected hand prints from the local youth soccer team, Estrella de Oro, and at several Neighborhood Association/local stakeholder meetings.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
We also held a Valentine’s Day event at the Neighborhood Resource Center to invite the participation of other neighborhood residents and their kids.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
We made a special edition Valentine sticker to celebrate and promote the project.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
After the final installation was complete, we helped the neighborhood organize a public celebration at the plaza.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Fai Beal organized art activities with neighborhood kids.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
The event included popcorn and popsicles, as well as delicious Mexican food from a neighborhood vendor.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
During the celebrations, we took photographs of people next to their hand prints.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
Scattered among the palm prints around the plaza, are tiles with “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” written in twelve different languages (Arabic, Burmese, Dari, English, French, Haitian Creole, Karen, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Swahili and Vietnamese). These celebrate the rich cultural heritage that Lykins proudly represents.
Mutual Aid, Lykins Square Park, East 8th Street and Norton Ave, Kansas City, MO :: 2024
As part of the community engagement process, we worked with the neighborhood to facilitate a call for artists to paint a mural in the Resource Center. This image shows an initial design sketch submitted by the winning artist, Emily Alvarez (click on image for link to her site).