Stories South of 22nd (SS22.ST)
is a digital hub featuring an ongoing collaboration between Sunnyside Foundation (SF), whose mission centers on service to Tucson’s Southside and the University of Arizona, working to bring the Southside’s cultural, historical and speculative imaginaries into the public eye.
This site showcases what re-investment by and for the community looks like on the ground. Together with stakeholders, the collaboration results in an ongoing portfolio of exchanges that SS22.ST documents, including site-specific courses, community storytelling, arts and culture activations and creative making projects that narrate the treasures Southside holds, the caretaking its residents embody and the changes they seek to manifest.
Drawing from a blended “urban humanities” research toolkit from urban planning, design and the humanities, these project build on case studies, visual literacy, archival research, mapping/site plans, site visits, community storytelling, spatial ethnography, pin-ups, community photo-shoots, image co-creation, co-curation, modeling, and other methods to bring the stories South of 22nd to life.
“And I think that’s what has guided me. That where I’m from, and what we do, and what my family is, that we’re not outliers in this society. That there’s a presence there. And I think that’s been a very important guide for me. It’s got me through some good times, and it’s got me through some bad times. The sense that you’re from somewhere, that you have a place. And it doesn’t have to be geographical, it can be a lot of things. I think the center kind of gave us, a lot of us young folk at the time, an excuse to experiment. You know, that maybe art and politics are not separated, maybe art and community are not different things.”
- Congressman Raúl Grijalva,
March 2023,
PAH Classroom Visit, Center for Creative Photography
PAH 420Innovation & the Human Condition Public & Applied Humanities (PAH) 420 Innovation & the Human Condition “The Murals of El Pueblo” F2023, S2024: students deployed urban humanities methods to produce design concepts and prototypes to activate murals of El Pueblo.
PAH 200 Introduction to Applied Humanities Public & Applied Humanities (PAH) 200 Introduction to Applied Humanities “El Pueblo Urban Humanities Studio” S2023: students deployed urban humanities methods to co-create photo-essays narrating the past, present and future of El Pueblo.
iFiesta Fotográfica! iFiesta Fotográfica! is an exhibition commemorating El Pueblo’s past, present and future through photography, storytelling and design. This well-publicized pilot event (coverage by Channel 13, Channel 4, Tucson Sentinel), iFiesta Fotográfica: El Pueblo Celebration!, was hosted at the historic patio on May 6, 2023, and launched the ongoing partnership between UArizona courses and community reinvestment efforts uplifting this celebrated Southside community center through collaborative study, interpretation, and design thinking.
Documenting Resilience in Tucson’s Southside is a co-creative visual and spatial engagement program created out of a partnership between Sunnyside Foundation, a leader in advocacy for Tucson’s Southside, and the University of Arizona project team.
SBE 301 Introduction to Design Thinking SBE 301: Intro to Design Thinking introduces undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments to the design process in order to promote buildings, landscapes and communities that are sustainable and resilient.
Digitizing Day For Digitizing Day, Sunnyside Foundation with the Office of Congressman Grijalva, Pima County Public Library's Nuestras Raíces, The University of Arizona College of Humanities - Public & Applied Humanities and The University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography (CCP), welcomed Southside community members to bring personal collections related to the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center for on-the-spot archiving and digitization at the historic Frank de la Cruz Library.
Fiesta Fotográfica CCP Special Viewing & El Pueblo/ Southside Community Visioning Session In this private viewing, community members were invited to see the Fiesta Fotográfica addition as part of Center for Creative Photography’’s installation Sessions on Creative Photography: Hazel Larsen Archer exhibition held on August 3 2023 from 430-630pm. The CCP installation included the El Pueblo visual projects produced in Spring by UArizona students. This time within the context of the photography pedagogy and philosophy ot Hazel Larsen Archer, the influential teacher of Tucson-born photographer and activist, Linda McCartney.
El Pueblo Mural Restoration This collection of resources and original research about the historic murals of El Pueblo features a range of materials, including a series of videos created by filmmakers Raúl Aguirre & Netza Aguirre based on interviews with artists. These materials were developed to support ongoing study and preservation of the murals as part of Sunnyside Foundation’s reinvestment in the site.