Where I’m From: Representing the Northside

The “Where I’m From: Representing on the Northside” project engages the humanities, and especially the arts, as a way for Near North and Willard-Hay residents on Minneapolis’ Northside to document and process the current moment (and the Northside’s unique circumstances within it) through representation: using seriously playful art- and word-making to proclaim “This is who I am. This is where I come from.” The project derives from Northside Residents Redevelopment Council (NRRC)’s longtime priority of engaging residents, identifying needs, and developing programs to address those needs. A NRRC collaboration with the Department of English and its Creative Writing Program, the project aims to provide opportunities for Northside residents of all ages to work with and alongside community and University artists and writers creating images and texts via cartooning and comics, collage, writing, doodling, and digital assemblage, all on the theme of representing one’s selves and one’s communities. This creative play of documentation encourages the preservation of Northside culture after the early 2026 crisis of federal immigration agent incursion as well as amid less visible but still urgent challenges around gentrification, health, public education, and housing precarity.