PROJECT FREEWAY: SITE VISITS FALL 2022

By Sarah Ramirez and Amari Lavergne, Fall 2022 Interns

We are excited to be working with the DiverseWorks Project Freeway Fellows for 2022-23: Stacey Allen and the husband and wife duo of Laura Moreno and Azel Agustin. Their new community-focused projects will address the people and places where they work and live. Allen’s project, Aesthetic Inheritances, explores black material culture, community building and self-determination at Barrett Station and unincorporated East Harris County, while Moreno and Agustin’s project The Kitchen Table Interviews, features a documentary of testimonies and reflections on living in Westview Terrace. The DiverseWorks team traveled to each of these locations in order to get more familiar with the areas that these artists are inspired by.

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Last September, the DW team visited with Stacey Allen for a tour of Harris County Cultural Arts Center (HCCAC) and Barrett Station. Stacey currently resides in Missouri City, but she has a particular affinity for Barrett Station and the unincorporated East Harris County community serviced by HCCAC, where she serves as Director of Artistic Programming. Stacey’s inspiration from her past work made her interested in Barrett Station, also simply known as Barrett, a settlement founded by a formerly enslaved person named Harrison Barrett. One of the significant facts of the settlement’s history is that Harrison Barrett’s original homestead has undergone two reconstructions, each of which has preserved all of its period-appropriate elements. DW got to meet one of the descendants of the family, Ray Barrett, who has a museum dedicated to the Barrett legacy in his home. The team got to see the art with tributes and artifacts of the Barrett family from both past and present.

As residents of cozy Westview Terrace, an area known for being the first housing development established in Spring Branch, Laura Moreno and Azel Agustin are no strangers to changes happening in their community. Last October, DW staff accompanied the couple on their regularly scheduled neighborhood walk to hear more about the changes within their neighborhood, and their plans for Project Freeway. Laura and Azel understand that where there are people, there are stories to be shared, and they hope to highlight the voices of people in their community as a way to document and preserve the history of their home.

Check back to DiverseWorks.org to stay updated on the progress of the Fellows as they present their work to the community this spring!