North Charleston Artist Anik Hall Paints Chicora/Cherokee History

Fresh Future Farm was awarded a Southern Creative Places grant from South Arts to create public art that educates, creates conversations and increases community pride. Farm staff worked closely with the SC History Room at the Charleston County Main Library and Don Campagna, History and Archives Coordinator for the City of North Charleston to verify and uncover little known historic information. Anik Hall, the Farm’s 23-year-old Special Projects Manager, collaged images of the neighborhood from the 1500’s to the present and received approval from the City to begin the work.

Comcast employees prepped the space for the project last spring. Hall translated the collage mock-up into a 50’ x 12’ life sized replica on the back wall of FFF’s grocery store. Staff members started recording oral histories using the StoryCorps app. To complement its work, FFF was awarded a fellowship from the League of Creative Interventionists, a national organization invested in building a network of artists doing creative placemaking work.

The Farm will host a community dinner that celebrates the mural’s completion and expands their oral histories project to include additional narratives from current and former residents later this year. These videos will be recorded for FFF’s YouTube channel and future podcast. Fresh Future Farm and the League will post event details on social media when they are available.

As part of Fresh Future Farm’s Kickstarter capital campaign, donors can pay to have their names added to the mural. To view the public artwork, visit Fresh Future Farm Tuesdays through Fridays from 12 pm to 7 pm and Saturdays from 7 am to 12 pm. Current and former residents are invited to share pictures and stories with the farm by emailing Anik at specialprojects.freshfuturefarm@gmail.com. All collected information will live on the Farm’s YouTube page and in a scrapbook.

This article originally appeared in the Charleston Chronicle.