Family Portraits with Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine | Civic Practice Partnership 2023–2025

“I think what we’ve learned is that the purpose of art-making or being an artist can be about making connections together in a community.” — Oasa DuVerney

“I feel like work is most successful when it is communicating with others and helping you to sort of bridge a gap.” — Mildred Beltré

The Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine began when artists Mildred Beltré and Oasa DuVerney started making art together in each other’s apartments. Sharing stories and experiences as they worked, they wondered if they could bring a similar experience to other neighbors. Dubbing themselves the “Official Unofficial Artists in Residence” of their block, they co-founded a collaborative public art project in the summer of 2010 that explores art-making as a community-building tool. The Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine is their community based, socially engaged project in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

During their CPP Residency, the artists will be interviewing residents on their block and photographing cherished family-owned objects. The words and images will then be published in a book that documents their concept of a community-based museum. As part of their on-going practice, they invited neighbors to pose for family portraits on a day when they also interviewed members of the community.

The Met’s Civic Practice Partnership (CPP), launched in 2017, catalyzes and implements creative projects that advance healthy communities by bringing the skills and interests of neighborhood stakeholders together with those of The Met and artists who are socially minded in their practice. Invited CPP artists work in their own neighborhoods across New York City and at The Met to develop and implement ambitious projects and forge meaningful collaborations.

Learn more about Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine’s CPP Residency here.