Kelly Creedon Photography

Labor Day in Cambridge

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:47:26 +0000

I was glad to spend Labor Day this year with the folks from SEIU Local 615 and UNITE HERE as they marched through Cambridge with an amazing brass band and beautiful larger than life puppets, not to mention hundreds of workers and community allies. The unions are in the midst of contract negotiations this year for many of the janitorial, security, and food service workers at Harvard, so here’s hoping for a good contract that promises good working conditions and fair wages for all.

We Shall Not Be Moved exhibit at Roxbury Community College

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:18:53 +0000

I’m excited to announce that the next stop for the traveling We Shall Not Be Moved exhibit is the Joan Resnikoff Gallery at Roxbury Community College!
We Shall Not Be Moved is my on-going multimedia documentary project that explores the stories behind the grassroots struggle against foreclosure here in Boston.

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 29, 2011, 6 to 9 pm

Please join us on Thursday, September 29, for a great evening. Come out and hear from the bank tenant activists and organizers behind the grassroots struggle against foreclosure in Boston! This event is being hosted in conjunction with the Right to the City national assembly, so this will be a great opportunity to mingle with community organizers and activists from around the country.

ON VIEW: September 26 through October 22, 2011
Gallery hours: Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm

VENUE:
Joan Resnikoff Gallery
Media Arts Center, Roxbury Community College
1234 Columbus Avenue
Boston, MA 02120

RSVP on the Facebook event page

Colombia Vive!

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:54:30 +0000

I was glad to have the opportunity this past weekend to be part of a fundraiser for Colombia Vive, an organization based here in Boston that does great work for human rights in Colombia. The organization holds a yearly asado, or barbecue, to report back on the current situation in Colombia and raise some funds for the continued work. And of course the afternoon includes lots of great food, drinks, music and dancing! Thanks so much to the organizers and supporters for all of their great work — check out their website for more info, www.colombiavive.org.

Eviction Blockade in Randolph

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:32:30 +0000

As part of my on-going project We Shall Not Be Moved, I spent most of the day yesterday in front of the Barzola family’s home at 7 Canessa Street in Randolph. The family has been fighting foreclosure and eviction over the past two years, attempting to negotiate with the bank to pay rent or repurchase their foreclosed property with the help of Boston Community Capital. Now, having received yet another 48 hour notice of eviction, the family was surrounded by about 50 supporters who came out to call attention to the family’s situation and attempt to block the eviction. For several hours, the crowd linked arms and held their ground in the face of the constable, police, and moving company. Ultimately, late in the afternoon, four people were arrested and the eviction was carried out, with the family vowing that they will keep fighting to get their home back.

Learn more about the project and see more photos from yesterday on the We Shall Not Be Moved website.

PLUtonics at the International HARMONIE Festival

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 08:40:54 +0000

Congrats to the Pacific Lutheran University PLUtonics who brought down the house at the International HARMONIE Festival in Limburg, Germany, with their rendition of Stayin’ Alive yesterday! Their performance earned them a tie for first place in the Jazz/Pop competition. I’ve been touring Germany with this group and the Choir of the West for the past five days and will follow them to Paris tomorrow for another week of great performances! You can follow the tour via my daily audio slideshow journal posts on the website of Opus Performance Tours.

European Tour

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 06:12:54 +0000

I’m excited to report that I’ll be on tour for the next two weeks with two fantastic musical groups from Pacific Lutheran University: the Choir of the West and the Kammermusikk Chamber Orchestra. I’ll be documenting their days as they travel through Germany and France and perform for a wide variety of audiences. You can follow the tour through my daily audio slideshows at the Opus Performance Tours website. Looking forward to a great trip!

We Shall Not Be Moved to be featured at Chelsea Art Walk

Mon, 30 May 2011 17:04:38 +0000

Thanks to a partnership with the Chelsea City-Wide Tenants Association (CTA) and the Chelsea Collaborative, my multimedia exhibit about the foreclosure crisis, We Shall Not Be Moved, will be featured at this year’s Chelsea Art Walk, happening the weekend of June 11 and 12. The CTA brings together families facing foreclosure and eviction throughout Chelsea and the surrounding area to organize and support each other in their struggles to stay in their homes.

The story of CTA member Eglentina Lopez and her family will be featured as part of the exhibit. From an article in Spanish-language newspaper Primer Momento about the exhibit:

“Eglentina and her family became “Bank Tenants” after Fannie Mae foreclosed on the house where they live in January of 2010. For them, being bank tenants has meant an uncertainty of not knowing when or who will fix busted pipes or broken doors.

It has meant that one day a Texas company asks for rent, and the next day they receive an eviction notice. Eglentina is in an eternal fight against the bank to assure that her family isn’t evicted and while they remain at 64 Maverick Street, that they have a safe home. She knows that even though she can’t count on the government to help her with her apartment, she can always count on the support and the help of the Chelsea City-Wide Tenants Association, a group of renters and homeowners working to avoid foreclosures and evictions.”

Read the full article (in Spanish).

Stop by the Chelsea Collaborative on Saturday, June 11, at 4 pm for a presentation including live testimonies from families facing foreclosure and eviction.

Reflecting on the collaborative documentary process

Wed, 18 May 2011 20:27:31 +0000

I’m so excited and honored to have been invited by Artists in Context to be part of a panel discussion about my
on-going project about the foreclosure crisis, We Shall Not Be Moved. The evening will start out with a facilitated panel discussion, led by Susie Husted of AIC, with participation from Curdina Hill and Steve Meacham of City Life/Vida Urbana, my main partner organization on this project, Reggie Fuller, one of the participants who is profiled in the project, and myself. The panel discussion will lead into a more informal conversation with the audience. I’m so looking forward to being a part of this conversation and learning from the insights and experiences of my project partners and others who are doing this work. I hope you can join us, it should be a really interesting evening!

When: Wednesday May 25^th 7p.m.
Where: Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Opening reception at the Julia Richman Education Complex in Manhattan!

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:28:11 +0000

Many thanks to the 75+ people who came out to celebrate with us at the opening reception of the We Shall Not Be Moved exhibit in Manhattan on Thursday, April 7! It was a great evening, with representatives of the Open Society Institute, Housing is a Human Right, Chhaya CDC, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Pratt Area Community Council, NEDAP, Common Law, New York Legal Assistance Group, Right to the City, and Take Back the Land. Also many thanks to the organizers and bank tenant leaders from City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston and Project No One Leaves in Springfield, MA, who made the trip down to share their experiences with the crowd. And a huge thanks to Rebekah Cook-Mack of South Brooklyn Legal Services for coordinating the event, as well as to the staff and students of Urban Academy for all of their help and support in hosting the exhibit!

Thanks to Michael Premo of Housing is a Human Right for these images.

We Shall Not Be Moved takes Manhattan

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:12:43 +0000

I’m thrilled to announce that we’re currently hanging the We Shall Not Be Moved exhibit in anticipation of this Thursday’s opening reception in Manhattan! The show will be at the Julia Richman Education Complex at 317 E. 67th Street — come by this Thursday from 5 to 7 pm to see the work, hear live presentations from project participants, and mingle with others who care about how the foreclosure crisis is impacting our communities and what folks are doing about it. Huge thanks to Rebekah Cook-Mack of South Brooklyn Legal Services for organizing this event!

A couple sneak peeks behind the scenes…