This project is to celebrate and acknowledge the many hands it takes to build a community. We want to do this in a way that also improves
our city by activating underutilized storefronts as a streetscape gallery exhibition focused on the people who have or are helping make it better.
This portrait series by artist Danny Seim aims to highlight local people, both the famous and the lesser known, who have made a positive impact on Louisville and Louisvillians. This collaborative project is in partnership with the Portland Museum.
“When I look around, standing at any street corner, I’m constantly amazed and have to remind myself that what I’m looking at was conceptualized, crafted, built and rebuilt by hundreds, possibly thousands of people over the course of decades and centuries. We need to recognize the many hands that shape our city.”
Through the activation of underutilized storefronts around downtown, we want to create a pop-up street gallery that provides some whimsy for locals and visitors to our downtown. The aim is to start by concentrating on storefronts downtown to develop a critical mass.
The subjects of this ongoing portrait series were anonymously nominated by their peers. Not all of them are household names, but all of them deserve to be for the role they've played in shaping and progressing our Louisville community. The consistent illustration style throughout places the lesser-known champions on the same playing field as the lifelong heroes and our departed icons.
Our ask is that downtown storefront owners allow us to hang portraits in your windows to help create a streetscape gallery exhibit showcasing the people who are helping to make our community a better place.
If you are interested in joining KMAC, Louisville Public Media and others in participating in this project, please contact Patrick Piuma, Director of the Urban Design Studio, to learn how you can get involved!
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