The Inside Out Project is a participatory project allowing people and communities to share their untold stories by creating works of public art. Marquette’s version had participants express their messages by displaying large-scale black and white portraits of community members and documenting moments from their stories about what Marquette means to them. Originally begun in 2011 by French artist JR, the Inside Out Project now has more than 570,000 people spanning 153 countries and territories participating in public art to tell the stories of their communities. The installations are documented and shared online as well, so anyone is able to view them.

The portraits were captured by Lindsay Gramana, a photographer based in Marquette who’s originally from St. Augustine, Florida.

“I think that both Amber (Dohrenwend) and I wanted to tell people’s stories. There’s stories that you hear every day on the news or read in the paper or even in oral history about the town, and you don’t always hear about the everyday people that built the city and that continue to keep it running,” said Gramana at the project’s unveiling. “And those are the stories that are interesting to us, and it’s just what makes Marquette what it is. So we set out to try to capture those people, you guys and your neighbors and your friends and family, and in doing so, also try to get some of your stories to share with everybody. I think (the) people up on the wall, we wanted to try to represent the whole community there and just acknowledge that important part of us. The people whose portraits we took are just as responsible for making this an amazing project, because you guys came in and were yourselves, which is how I wanted to capture everybody with my portraits.”

Amber Dohrenwend, a local artist and the initiator of the project, explained how the scale of the project wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of different people and organizations.

Seventy-two Marquette community members and their stories are captured in the city’s “Now You See Us” public art installation on West Main Street. (Journal photo by Abby LaForest)

“This was a project that wouldn’t have been able to scale in the way that it has without the Downtown Development Authority and Mike (Bradford’s) help. We worked collaboratively, the three of us, to bring the size and scale to the project as you see it,” Dohrenwend said. “I think when we first proposed it to the Arts and Culture Center, it was going to be maybe 30 portraits, a lot smaller, so it’s just incredible to see everybody’s faces up on the wall.”

Mike Bradford, the Project Coordinator and Downtown Marquette’s Marketing and Events Director, expressed the excitement that comes with Marquette joining a global storytelling movement where creativity and community are celebrated.

“Each community has a story to tell, and this is a fantastic medium to do so. Finally, Marquette has been able to join that global collaboration of arts in a way to help tell this community’s stories by the faces that we see here,” explained Bradford.

“Now You See Us” as part of the Inside Out Project was a collaborative effort between the Marquette DDA, the Marquette Arts and Culture Center, Bradford, Dohrenwend, and the international team at Inside Out.

The portraits include 72 members of the Marquette community who volunteered to participate in the project, and their portraits are located on the Old Delft building at 130 West Main Street. Stories of the people in the portraits, as well as other Inside Out art installations from around the world, can be read online at insideoutproject.net/en/explore/group-action/now-you-see-us and downtownmarquette.org/now-you-see-us.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.