Ian Henderson and I were commissioned to paint a map/mural of the five boroughs (additionally with Long Island and New Jersey) live in front of local skaters, artist, and strollers at Baldwin Park in Long Island. We planned for the mural to be an open invitation to anyone who wanted to tag up the map or personally place themselves and their stories on the geography of New York City and its surrounding area.

Setting Up

Initially, we had four 4x8 plywood boards strapped to the top of Ian's car with the map already filled in and laid out but the universe ultimately had different plans for us.

Immediately after getting off the Kosciuszko bridge all four of the boards flew off the roof of the car and onto the speeding highway… Fortunately, no one was hurt, we weren’t arrested and caused no car accidents.

Our piece was made roadkill.
Run over at least 30 times by the time we pulled to the shoulder.

Too dangerous to walk into highway traffic and retrieve the wood, we kept driving.
The 16x32 foot map of New York City became a part of the city over burning concrete and under tired rubber.
Drove to Home Depot.
Bought four more.

And started from square one…
The Result

At the end of the day, most of the skate park had inscribed a piece of themselves onto our board… seeing themselves and their stories on the map.

"My favourite moment of the show was when an old woman named Mary-Jo and her family came up to our piece and as she tentatively admired it I asked her if she'd like to sign our map. At first, she refused but I insisted and offered to sign it on her behalf... Eventually, she gathered the courage to grab a marker and make her own mark even getting up on the stepstool to tag her old home up in Washington Heights. Seeing her up there with her family's hands supporting her made me so happy and reminded me why we do this and what art is all about. Hearing her stories and watching her interact with our art as we intended was the best gift Jesus and I could have asked for."
- Ian Henderson

"Beyond the Board" documentation, Filmed & edited by Noah Gomez

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