Maxi Himpe and Hallie Smith’s Artist Statement

This sound-walk includes interviews with members of the community about the work they do in and for this place we call Oakland. As you traverse sites like DeFremery Pool and a 20 square-foot mural, Oakland will be animated by the labour and care of its residents, and the many invisible forces that upset, disrupt, protect, sustain, and salvage our community. Enjoy the sounds and voices of your neighbours, the people who pass and serve you often, and listen to the knowledge that they have to impart. Their insights are both universal and specific, veering between warm anecdotes and firm critiques. From a seasoned educator to a teen lifeguard, their words are a record of Oakland today.

The function of redlining was to devalue certain neighborhoods' worth to investors. These interviews, conducted in redlined neighborhoods decades after the 1937 "residential security map" was published, express the value that was never captured by redlining's discriminatory metrics. The project seeks to redefine how we evaluate a community and encourages its audience to, like the subjects of the project, make investments in the people and places among which they live.