SALTQuarters art installation explores, highlights Westside community

Patty Ortiz hired every single applicant for the job she was offering. Soon after, there were eight people alongside Ortiz, walking the streets of the Syracuse’s Westside in brilliant white lab coats with the letters “WWKY,” on the back.

“Work Won’t Kill You.”

The eight workers were hired for Ortiz’ art project under that title. Ortiz simulated a work environment, requiring employees to punch in and out and wear a uniform. She then conducted an experiment to see how, when given free rein, people would be more creative in their work.

The end result is a gallery display that opened in The SALTQuarters Gallery Wednesday which will be open through June 17. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1-6 p.m.

The walls are adorned with photos of people, objects and landmarks that resonate within the Westside neighborhood. Each picture has a red dot with a tail connecting it to a floor map, which indicates the location the photo was taken.

Screenshots from the films “The Wizard of Oz,” and “The Wiz,” fill the facing wall. Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to place a colored dot on the photo in a place with the same color. Eventually, Ortiz said, the wall will be covered and although the color of the image will be similar, the content will be barely distinguishable, connecting the two films.

Ortiz said she grew up with the movies and the mural is a reminder to think about “where is home.” Mary Anne McClusky echoed this sentiment.

“The main message of the project, to me, it resonates back to ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and ‘The Wiz’ with the quote, ‘there’s no place like home,’” McCluskey said.

McClusky was one of the workers that went on community walks, snapping hundreds of images — a number that was eventually reduced to 86. There’s a photo of her house hanging on the wall.

McClusky said her favorite part of the project was walking around the community getting to know the people and the places. All of the walks were conducted while wearing the white lab coats, something Ortiz said drew an interesting reaction.

Ortiz recalled an occasion where the group came across a fight between two kids and a woman. One of the workers said he was going to break up the fight and refused to listen when Ortiz tried to stop him. The fight was over moments later.

“The uniforms bring along this kind of authority but it’s also this kind of unifying force,” Ortiz said. “When they talk to us and they realize we are just trying to talk to them, they start talking to us. They let us take their picture, they tell us stories, they tell us what needs to happen in the community.”

One visitor to the gallery suggested that the team should have had a video crew following the team to record people’s reactions. Glenn Allen, an SU alumnus and Liverpool resident said he is not familiar with the Westside and he was a bit out of his element.

“I enjoyed looking at these pictures and seeing where they are,” Allen said. “It sort of made the Westside a little more real to me.”

Allen added that the project brings the neighborhood to life and is a wonderful way to bring some unity to the community.

That sense of unity was reflected in the gallery’s opening. Many community members in the photos came to the opening after being invited by the workers.

That wasn’t without some extra effort from the workers. Each person the group invited would say they would attend and asked for a card, Ortiz said. However, the team didn’t have any contact cards yet. When they finally got them, they revisited every house where someone had requested a card to drop one off.

Each person will be greeted at the door by one of the workers, not Ortiz, as she said the project has become theirs.

Since Ortiz said her goal was to empower the workers to be creative, she was excited when they came up with the idea of the “Wizard of Oz” mural. As the project continues, she has high hopes for the workers. All of the workers connected with the community through the project, she said, recalling a comment one made:

“You think you know the leaders in a community and then you meet these guys and you realize, there are more.”