2nd round of Project HEAL billboards highlight food justice in Smoketown
Building on the momentum of Project HEAL's One Poem At A Time, which launched April 1, 2017 with a series of billboards lifting up the voices of community members in Smoketown, a second round of billboards will be on display for two months starting the week of June 19, 2017.
Created through a partnership between IDEAS xLab and the Louisville Metro Department for Public Health and Wellness Diabetes Prevention Program, the new series of billboards highlights food justice, culinary heritage and planting seeds early to cultivate a healthy generation.
“For this series of billboards, I photographed community members who live, work, learn and play in Smoketown,” said IDEAS xLab co-founder and artist Josh Miller. “We wanted to highlight the positive benefits of eating together, urban farming and healthy activities. Rather than showcasing the negative aspects of living in a food desert, we’re spotlighting the ways that community members are combating negative health like growing their own produce in the backyard and eating meals together.”
“Too often health messaging is all about what you shouldn’t do,“ said Dr. Sarah Moyer, medical director for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness. “We are excited to partner with IDEAS xLab on this project because they have put a beautiful and positive spin on the healthy actions necessary to prevent chronic diseases like diabetes.”
The series of seven billboards are being launched in conjunction with Project HEAL’s Summer of Justice program, which is being offered every Tuesday and Thursday in Smoketown for middle and high-school students. The Summer of Justice was developed by artist Hannah Drake of IDEAS xLab, and will be led by the Project HEAL Community Health Champion, ShawnNika Queen.
"Summer of Justice is a program that all around focuses on justice using the five senses," said Queen. "The hope is to educate, strengthen and empower young people to acknowledge and voice issues they face today and create change for their future."
The program will explore through arts and culture what justice tastes, smells, looks, feels and sounds like, and is supported by Louisville Metro Office for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods, Health Impact Project, KentuckyOne Health and Fund for the Arts.
Learn more about the Project HEAL billboards, Smoketown's Summer of Justice, and explore the Try Health resource page including Diabetes Prevention Program information by visiting SmoketownVoice.com.