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A public/social art project that focuses on & celebrates the people who make up Jacksonville. Everyone who lives in northeast Florida can say with confidence “I AM JAX.”

As everyone knows, it’s everyday people who make up a great city and this is an opportunity to highlight those people. My project will entail photographing people throughout our region, taking those photos & transforming them into life size silhouettes, those silhouettes will then be mounted throughout the walls of downtown. Each silhouette figure will have a QR code that when scanned, takes you to a small bio for that specific person. We often complain about how vacant and lonely our downtown is after 5 pm & on weekends, but picture hundreds to these silhouettes covering the walls of various downtown businesses and even throughout the abandoned buildings. With the figures in place, it will give the feel of a busy bustling downtown. In essence, it’ll be a precursor of what our downtown will begin to look like as we continue to grow. With hundreds to thousands of people from all walks of life directly connected to this project, the word of mouth buzz will be infectious, the excitement of seeing yourself in a piece of public art will drive people to bring themselves, friends & family to our urban core. It will re-engage that feeling of pride we had as children when we got to be part of something bigger than us.

This project can also be extended to include these figures scattered randomly throughout the city that when scanned, they give an informative glimpse into the full scale project housed in our downtown along with that particular figure’s bio. It will encourage people from all walks of life to participate, along with local heroes, public officials, and even our beloved pets.

Local businesses can join in on the fun by sponsoring silhouettes, hosting a wall for the silhouettes to go on, or even sponsoring events surrounding the silhouettes such as scavenger hunts. The possibilities are unlimited.

Public art is known to benefits cities in several ways including but not limited to: improving quality of life, beautifying city streets, encouraging foot traffic, raising property values, increased commerce & tax revenue, job growth, and so much more. The nature of the I AM JAX project is to address all these issues.

This project will not only add much needed art to our urban core, but it will encourage people to stop and interact with their environment, stop and discover their surroundings, and most importantly stop and enjoy Jacksonville. I AM JAX will connect people to people, people to businesses, and businesses to the community.

Due to the nature of the figures being faceless with little identifying characteristics, it’ll help to spread the message loud and clear that we are ALL important and vital to our city and that individually we can say with confidence: I AM JAX 🙂

Check out the latest media coverage and additional links about #IMJAX:

Washington Post

WJCT 89.9 Creator Series

Folio Weekly’s The Specktator’s Top 10 One Spark Picks (Spark Plugs)

EU Jacksonville April 2013 Issue

FSCJ The Campus Voice

Void Magazine April 2013 Issue

One Spark Creator Profile: Entry No. 421- I Am JAX

One Spark Vimeo: I AM JAX

#IMJAX Meets One Spark- YCL Art Blog

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Support #IMJAX- Newsletter by YCL ART

More Reasons Why You Should Support #IMJAX- Newsletter by YCL ART

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