Mapping Myself was a twelve-week, San Francisco based collaborative public art project between six Horace Mann middle-school students and artists John Jota Leaños, Mónica Praba Pilar and Marisa Vitiello. With 35mm cameras, the students documented different aspects of their lives in order to map their identity. The students photographed their family members, friends, natural and social environments, shelter and school environment. The multi-layered self-portraits consisted of the youth’s photographs and writings and paralleled the complexities these disenfranchised lives. The 4 x 6 feet images were installed in public venues at various sites in San Francisco. The unexpected mappings attempted to rupture stereotypical ideas of who urban youth are and to lend these individuals the opportunity to be understood in their own terms.

Mapping Myself was sponsored by the Mexican Museum’s After School Art Program, Horace Mann Middle School and the Galería de la Raza.

Artists’ Names

Eric
Linda
José
Peter
Deigo
Marvin