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'I Dream of a Richmond'

"I Dream of a Richmond … where the streets are safe and everyone has a home to go to … where the streets are safe."

That's my dream of Richmond. What's yours?

That's exactly what one local art gallery/performing arts center is hoping to find out with its latest exhibition, "I Dream of a Richmond …"

Jackson Ward's Gallery5 and There Once Was A Rebellion (T.O.W.A.R), a local social movement, have joined forces to present an exhibit unlike anything this city has ever seen. Part art project, part activist campaign, "I Dream of a Richmond …" brings artists and Richmonders together to express their hopes and dreams for Richmond.

"Essentially it's a campaign … a nonhierarchical social form that gives people the ability to voice their opinions about their city – their hopes, their aspirations for it," said Bizhan Khodabandeh, the local artist who came up with the idea and is involved with both Gallery5 and T.O.W.A.R.

The exhibit is comprised of a series of posters featuring average Richmonders with their personal "I Dream of a Richmond" statements. Gallery5 invited local artists and photographers to take pictures of anyone, whether it was people in their lives and community or strangers on the street, and then asked them to finish the statement. But in true socialist spirit, participation in the exhibit is open to anyone who wants to submit a photo and statement.

"[This let's] people who don't normally get the chance, whether economically or socially, voice their opinion in a very public manner. And this gives them the ability to do so – as well as to see what other people are thinking around them," Khodabandeh said.

The dreams for Richmond range from hopes of overcoming racism and poverty to wishes for legal graffiti walls and stronger city-wide environmental policies.

"Some of the statements are really silly and some are really serious and very poignant," Khodabandeh said. "[There's] an image of an 18-year-old kid who's in high school or just graduating saying, 'I Dream of a Richmond … where I can live rad and die hard' and I have it next to a 13-year-old … who's making a statement about the issue of drugs in his neighborhood. I think that's a really powerful juxtaposition."

Ironically, the idea for "I Dream of a Richmond …" came to Khodabandeh in a dream.

"I thought … it would be interesting, or fascinating, if people had more control over the media – [if] they were able to express their own concerns in a very public way. Especially when people feel so disenfranchised lately with their government," Khodabandeh said.

The exhibit is on display at Gallery5 through January and some posters can also be seen in businesses around Richmond. Plan 9 , Bygones, the Village Café and Ipanema Café all have posters hanging inside and smaller exhibits at coffeehouses and other galleries are being discussed.

Khodabandeh is also working on a "Vacant Spaces Project" in which the posters will be hung, with permission, on vacant building throughout Richmond. It's all just part of the movement of "I Dream of a Richmond."

"I've learned a lot about people in my community … and how empowering it is for somebody to be able to make a statement on a very public level. It's the same reason why inner-city youth were doing this in the first place. They have no voice in this society. Giving that to people makes them excited," Khodabandeh said.

For more information on "I Dream of Richmond" or to get involved, contact Gallery5 at 200 W. Marshall St., 804-644-0005.