In building Detroit’s Heidelberg project, Tyree Guyton acts as an individual intervening in public space. Beginning as a series of painted houses on Heidelberg Street, the Project has since expanded to take up much of Detroit’s McDougall-Hall neighborhood. Houses covered in vibrant polka dots, bundles of stuffed animals clinging to siding, and whimsical found object sculptures contradicts the neighborhood’s previous image of an abandoned site riddled with crime. Tyree Guyton initially began this art intervention back in 1986 with the painting of one house’s exterior. The Heidelberg Project has since expanded into a cohesive community art effort spanning two blocks. The motivation for the project stems from Guyton’s awareness of the lack of art in his community. He elaborates by stating, “It was my way of using the Heidelberg project as a medicine to help the people understand the importance of thinking for themselves.”
Featured image by Irn (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons