Format

Poster Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

California State University, Northridge

First Presenter’s Email Address

francisco.lopez.552@my.csun.edu

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Francisco J. Lopez, MA. Mr. Lopez has a bachelor's degree in Chicana/o Studies from California State University. Currently, serving as Program Manager for Legacy L.A., a community-based youth development non-profit organization located in Boyle Heights. He oversees the Gang Reduction and Youth Development, Multi-Cultural Arts, and the Middle School programs with the community of Ramona Gardens, a public housing development. Mr. Lopez is a co-founder of the South Central Arts, a grassroots network that seeks to elevate the work of local entrepreneurs, local artists, and cultural producers in South Central Los Angeles since 2017. As well as, a founding member of the Inner City Wolves, a young boy's circle that focuses on leadership development and brotherhood. Furthermore, Mr. Lopez's thesis centers on Graffiti Muralism. Title: “The Barrio Beautification Effect: “Utilizing Graffiti as A Tool to Build Resiliency, Resistance, and Healing with Adolescent Boys and Young Men of Color in Los Angeles. A graffiti-based mural program designed to uplift adolescent Latino boys and other young men of color who have experienced economic hardships, violence, and systemic marginalization in low-income communities.

Second Presenter's Institution

California State University, Northridge

Second Presenter’s Email Address

allen.lipscomb@csun.edu

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Allen E. Lipscomb, PsyD, LCSW is an Associate Professor and Director of Online and Offsite MSW Programs as well as Director of Minority Male Mentoring (M3) and Student Success Allies (SSA) program at California State University Northridge in the Department of Social Work. Dr. Lipscomb is a clinical psychologist with the highest degree earned and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of California. Dr. Lipscomb received his doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D.) with a clinical emphasis in marriage, family and child psychotherapy from Ryokan College and his Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Southern California. Upon completing his doctorate, he earned a certification in mixed-methods df community-based research from the University of Michigan in the School of Social Work. In addition, Dr. Lipscomb studied diversity and inclusion practices within organizations through Cornell University, earning a certification from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell.

Location

Poster Mingle and Reception

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

Based on the objectives and findings of my research, graffiti-based mural programs have the potential to build self-esteem, connection with others, and team-building skills among participants. Graffiti-based mural programs also have the potential to provide transitional youth of color a way to emotionally express themselves, which can support them to enhance their emotional intelligence.

Brief Program Description

n/a

Summary

My research study’s focus was to engage transitional age youth of color in a virtual graffiti-art-based program utilizing a grassroots intervention approach that is non-clinical. For this study, I analyzed the Barrio Beautification Effect, a contemporary graffiti program that I developed through a strength-based approach, and valorized the medium of graffiti as a community cultural asset versus seeing it as a deficit. I explored how a virtual, art-based program rooted in the practice of graffiti can be utilized as a mechanism to uplift young boys/men of color (predominantly Latinx) that have experienced hardships, violence, and systemic marginalization in low-income communities. The results of this study unveiled a perspective of graffiti that is distinct from the master narrative and shed light on graffiti art and its practitioners. I found that if the practice of graffiti is utilized with restorative intentions, it can open up avenues for the development of grassroots interventions that have the power to promote healthier communities in Los Angeles. Graffiti collaborative programs like the one I investigated in this study have the potential to promote healing, resistance, and resiliency for youth of color who have witnessed hardships in their lives.

Evidence

The benefits of Graffiti on Youth: Arts and Positive Transformation

Today, contemporary graffiti is practiced by all ethnic groups throughout the world in urban cities. Based on the research on graffiti, this research focus goes beyond the United States, the benefits of graffiti are international. Although there are limited studies that highlight how people of color utilize graffiti in adolescent art-based programs, the few studies that are visible express that as an art practice, graffiti can contribute to psychological health and wellness. These elements include healing, mindfulness, building community, self-identity, self-expression, and self-confidence (Bopp, Grebe, & Deny, 2019; Latorre, 2008; Klingman & Shaleve, 2001; Kossak, 2009). Since the practice of graffiti has expanded internationally, there is a need to explore the benefits of graffiti as a positive intervention more in-depth.

Klingman & Shaleve (2001) explain how in Israel graffiti was utilized by the youth as a coping mechanism to grieve the loss of their Prime Minister. The youth dealt with the loss by putting together graffiti paintings and candle lighting at the site of the assassination. According to Klingman & Shaleve (2001), the youth and the community were in so much pain and stated that “The graffiti seems to have been a valuable vehicle for accessing and containing intense grief as well as for strengthening the bonds of individual writers with the community, thus enhancing the connection with the society in general” (p. 417). These scholars argue that youth crave rituals that provide the space for them to express intense feelings. Developing a graffiti memorial became a form of a ritual that created a sense of individual identity, togetherness, belonging, and solidarity. This form of artistic expression guided the youth to actively engage in search of meaning and thus contributed to coping more effectively with the trauma of loss and the feeling of confusion.

In addition, modern and contemporary U.S. Latinx and Latin American art scholar Latorre (2008) indicates that urban graffiti art is a form of expression that reclaims and develops self-identity through the use of space. She adds that this art form best communicated the instinctive and harsh nature of the people of color’s urban experience and is a, “reaction against their individuality and humanity that indigenous and African-descent peoples have historically suffered” as a result of colonialism and racism. (p. 131). Latorre (2008) illustrates how the aesthetics of indigenous imagery influence Chicanx urban graffiti. Her research suggests that the use of indigenous imagery in graffiti art illustrates cultural capital and the reclaiming of pre-conquest indigenous culture. These expressions challenge dominant discourse. By seeing their names on the walls in public spaces offers spiritual and healing medicine to the history of removal (Latorre, 2008).

Furthermore, Kossak (2009) an art-based practitioner argues that art-based interventions can support individuals to stay balanced, focused, and be present to the moment. Scholars illustrate the transpersonal aspects of arts-based therapy and reveal that utilizing the arts opens up an environment where two individuals can enter into the synchronistic flow or therapeutic attunement with each other. Therapeutic attunement is “the ability to stay centered, aligned, present, and alert to the moment that helps to create a therapeutic connection” (p. 13, Kossak, 2009). According to Kossak (2009), this connection between two individuals, in this case a therapist and a client builds trust and empathy, which allows for the healing process to take place. Other studies reveal that art programs also have the ability to build community, develop cognitive skills, improve self-esteem, and allow for self-expression for underserved adolescents or youth that have been labeled “at-risk” (Wallace-DiGarbo & Hill, 2010). These benefits can be obtained by individuals that participate in a non- clinical art-based intervention (Wallace-DiGarbo & Hill, 2010; Bopp, Grebe, & Denny, 2019; Gallagher, & Renner, 2020).

References

Latorre, Guisela. (2008). Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenous Murals In California. The University of Texas Press.

Slayton, S. C., D'Archer, J., & Kaplan, F. (2010). Outcome studies on the efficacy of art therapy: A review of findings. Art therapy, 27(3), 108-118.

Wallace-DiGarbo, A., & Hill, D. C. (2006). Art as agency: Exploring empowerment of at-risk youth. Art Therapy, 23(3), 119-125.

Kossak, M. S. (2009). Therapeutic attunement: A transpersonal view of expressive arts therapy. The arts in psychotherapy, 36(1), 13-18.

Klingman, A., & Shalev, R. (2001). Graffiti: Voices of Israeli youth following the assassination of the prime minister. Youth & Society, 32(4), 403-420.

Bopp, J. E., Grebe, A. M., & Denny, J. H. E. (2019). Healing through the arts for non-clinical practitioners. MedicaWallace-DiGarbo & Hill, 2010l Information Science Reference/IGI Global.

Gallagher, V. J., & Renner, M. M. (2020). Painting publics: Transnational legal graffiti scenes as spaces for encounter, by Caitlin Frances Bruce: Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2019, $125 (hardcover), EAN: 978-1-4399-1444-1.

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to understand the positive impact of youth centered graffiti based programs in communities and schools.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to identify three ways to enhance emotional intelligence through graffiti-based art programs for transitional age youth of color.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to identify three ways to implement culturally responsive and community affirming interventions for transitional age youth of color

Keyword Descriptors

Resilience, Graffiti Muralism, Healing, Youth Resistance, Transitional age boys and young men of color

Presentation Year

2022

Start Date

3-7-2022 4:45 PM

End Date

3-7-2022 6:00 PM

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Mar 7th, 4:45 PM Mar 7th, 6:00 PM

“The Barrio Beautification Effect:” Utilizing Graffiti as A Tool to Build Resiliency, Resistance, and Healing with Adolescent Latino Boys and Young Men in Los Angeles

Poster Mingle and Reception

n/a