Exhibitions

With contributions by Alondia Bailey, Joe Bruns, Corinne Dyson, Aurelio M. Fernandez Aragoneses, Sandra Gallegos, Ruzanna Hanesyan, Heather Hilliard, Brandi Mack-Khalfani, Tracy Nakayama, Karen Satzman, and the Armory Programs Team

Going Up the Hill: A Community Art Experience is an ongoing, ever-changing, collaborative installation shaped by the memories, creativity, and hope of our community. After the January fires in Altadena and Pasadena, our community has come together to support neighbors and families through mutual aid initiatives across the city. The activities included in the installation, based on ideas developed by Armory Teaching Artists and staff, welcome reflection on the rhythms of life in and around Eaton Canyon and the San Gabriel Mountains by holding space for the community’s response to the fires. The installation serves as a container for the shared grief, anger, joy, and resilience of memories. 

Visitors are invited to contribute to the installation by participating in the activities, connecting with the responses of other community members, or using the included art materials to channel the complicated feelings of this moment into a work of creativity. Through art-making, we symbolically “go up the hill,” honoring the past and processing the emotions of the present to foster belonging, remembrance, and collective healing.