Perfect City/The Catcalling Project
(In)Visible Guides
3–30 June 2023
(In)Visible Guides is an art and research project created by Perfect City/The Catcalling Project and residents of a Lower East Side shelter for domestic violence survivors. The project combines map-making workshops, public art installations, convenings, and publishing designed to help survivors become public advocates for better protection alternatives to policing in public space. We believe everyone benefits when our most marginalized and least visible residents have more agency in the design of our neighborhoods and cities.
(In)visible Guides Workshop Participant, 2022
Photoville Opening Celebration
(In)Visible Guides: Destiny Mata Exhibition
(In)Visible Guides: Neighborhood Tours
(In)Visible Guides: Convening
(In)Visible Guides: Exhibition
About Perfect City/The Catcalling Project
Formed by Aaron Landsman in 2016, Perfect City is a multiracial, multigenerational working group that addresses the design, policy-making and zoning of cities. Much of our current work focuses on how the city often renders low-income women, families of color and trans people escaping domestic violence unsafe, even within the shelter system. Led by working group members Tiffany Zorrilla and Jahmorei Snipes, Perfect City’s offshoot The Catcalling Project looks at how the rhetoric of real estate development and that of street harassment both propagate displacement and a lack of safety for women of color. In 2019, Zorrilla and Snipes began to offer Avoidance Mapping workshops for residents at Henry Street Settlement’s Urban Family Center (UFC), a residential shelter with counseling and other services.
Funding
(In)Visible Guides is commissioned by Abrons Arts Center with the support from Creatives Rebuild New York's Artist Employment Program, a NYSCA Individual Project Grant from The Architectural League of New York, LMCC’s Creative Engagement Program, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior contributors to Perfect City’s work include the Jerome Foundation, Rubin Foundation, Graham Foundation, Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, and individual contributors.
Convening Panelists
Ming Lin
Shanzai Lyric
Ming Lin is 1/2 of Shanzhai Lyric, with Alex Tatarsky, and an associate of the Canal Street Research Association, a fictional office entity centering around New York's counterfeit epicenter as a means to problematize notions of ownership and property through bootleg as method. Their work has been presented in unofficial and official spaces including Storefront for Art & Architecture, Amant, Times Museum, INIVA/Stuart Hall Library, Women’s Art Library, Abrons Arts Center, SculptureCenter, Artists Space, and MoMA-PS1, among others.
LaGene Wright
Director of Operations & Support Services, Urban Family Center
LaGene Wright joined Henry Street Settlement in 2006 and has worked in various capacities. She is currently responsible for providing operational oversight of the 24-hour transitional housing program that provides temporary housing for over 300 individuals. LaGene earned her Bachelor’s degree from City College, is a member of Henry Street’s Training & Development Pillar Committee, and has partnered with Learn @ Henry Street to design and facilitate team trainings.
Alana Lambertis
Lower East Side Girls Club
Alana Lambertis is a native New Yorker who strives to leave a long lasting positive impact on others. She attended Bard High School Early College, graduating with her High School Diploma and Associate’s Degree at age 17. In high school she joined The Lower East Side Girls Club, a nonprofit organization that provides programming for young women and gender-expansive youth. At LESGC, Alana formed lifelong friendships and discovered her passion for art and activism. She then went on to pursue higher education at The University at Albany. In college, Alana studied Sociology and Psychology and graduated with honors.
Alana currently is a social worker at the Lower East Side Family Union, where she finds joy in helping families grow. She is still tightly involved with the LESGC and also does research with Confident Futures. Alana greatly values her friendships, self care, and sunlight. Her hobbies include pilates and painting.
Darlene Pompa
Lower East Side Girls Club
Darlene Pompa is a lower east side native who was raised by two hard working immigrant parents. They migrated to New York in the 80’s from the Dominican Republic and Cuba to provide more opportunities for me and her siblings. She’s an active alumni member at the Lower East Side Girls Club and is currently working as program assistant for young girls and gender expansive youth. As a recent first generation graduate who majored in Digital Communications and Culture from Baruch College, she plans to continue her journey with girls club this summer working in HQ as a developer.
Tiffany Zorrilla
Perfect City
Tiffany Zorrilla, known as “Lola Libre” is an interdisciplinary artist that creates conceptual art that engages the audience to become part of the experience. Her works include the dynamics of public space and how we come to understand the human body. Zorrilla utilizes mixed media to present her narratives of healing both the interpersonal and external worlds. Often her work engages audiences through human interaction + participation. Zorrilla joined Perfect City in 2016 and has been a working collaborative artist since. She is also co-collaborator/founder of The Catcalling Project alongside colleague Jahmorei Snipes. Zorrilla’s collaborative work centers the lived experience of city-dwellers through arts and social practice. www.ciguapacafe.com
Jahmorei Snipes
Perfect City
Jahmorei Snipes is an actress, advocate and artistic activist. Originally from El Barrio, Jahmorei is a born and raised New Yorker who currently resides in Harlem, New York. A profound care for her city and the world around her as a core throughline, Jahmorei was introduced to artistic activism in her teen years. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting with a minor in political science in 2018 from Marymount Manhattan College, Jahmorei continued to pursue her passions as an actor, theater-maker, and activist. She currently works as an NYC actor, member of Perfect City at Abrons Arts Center, a co-creator of The Catcalling Project, and teaching artist for Oye Group. Her work is grounded in her lived experiences and equips performance as a dynamic medium for her practices. Previous theatre credits include On Strivers’ Row, A Servant of Two Masters,The Hysteria Plays: Deliverance and Astronaut (Or Frantic Action) at Dixon Place, Henry V at Summit Rock, Almost Maimed at The Tank, and Project: Human Better’s The Ladies’ Room at The PIT as Sojourner Truth.