Grant Project

Surface/Self

A community-engaged installation transforming public marks, messages, and painted canvas into life-sized fabric figures that explore how identity is shaped collectively but lived individually.

Wichita Arts Council supported installation | In development

Community marks transformed into life-sized fabric figures.

Surface/Self invites Wichita Pride attendees and community members to paint, draw, write, and leave marks on large canvases. Those surfaces are later cut, stitched, reinforced, and assembled into figurative forms.

The final installation explores how identity is shaped collectively but lived individually, with community contributions remaining visible within the finished work.

Each finished form carries the evidence of many hands while still becoming an individual body, reflecting the tension between public identity, private selfhood, and chosen community.

Inquire

Back to Projects

Project Images

Selected Moments

Michael K. Davenport painting a large blue Surface/Self canvas.

A hand painting on a pink Surface/Self canvas.

A painted face detail on a blue Surface/Self canvas.

Michael K. Davenport painting a Surface/Self canvas outdoors.

Painted marks on a blue Surface/Self canvas.

Surface/Self instruction sheet and art supplies.

A hand painting rainbow color on a Surface/Self canvas.

Michael K. Davenport seated with Surface/Self participants.

Community members painting Surface/Self canvases outdoors.

Participants painting a green Surface/Self canvas outdoors.

A participant painting a purple Surface/Self canvas.

Hands spray-painting an orange Surface/Self canvas.

Michael K. Davenport and participants sitting with a purple Surface/Self canvas.

Participants painting Surface/Self canvases outdoors.

Performers and participants signing a green Surface/Self canvas.

Youth participants painting Surface/Self canvases indoors.

Pride attendees painting Surface/Self canvases indoors.

Youth painting a blue Surface/Self canvas under Pride flags.