History
From this experience, I decided to turn the gathering into an annual event, part of something more impactful with an overarching objective—to facilitate local participation in the arts and to enable members of underserved communities to advocate for their needs and rights.
I wanted to be able to create or support spaces where locals can organize and participate in art-making events. Through participation, together we learn how to address our social, political, environmental and economic conditions. I have since named the annual event “Motion in Motion”, and our main objective is to contribute to and uplift the existing local efforts that are engaged in similar work.
With this in mind, I’ve invited colleagues and former students to work on formulating actionable initiatives in other cities or neighborhoods. Together, we are working toward a few simple goals:
Raise enough money to host and/or support small legal mural events in New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia
Create a practical curriculum for participatory-action to be used during events
Provide stipends and financial literacy workshops for local artists in need of support
Eventually provide stipends to informal youth groups who want to organize theater arts events.
This is the story of Three Thousand Moons.
Amina Tawasil, PhD
Founder
Three Thousand Moons
Amina Tawasil, PhD
The history of Three Thousand Moons (TTM) as an organization is grounded in the lessons I learned on how graffiti writers educate themselves and each other about the art form, one that engages the sociopolitics of urban space. Since May 2021, I’ve met over a hundred graffiti writers and artists, traveled to Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Saint Louis, walked train tunnels, freight yards, rooftops, and attended gallery shows and legal mural events. TTM began as a story from these experiences.
One of the many lessons I’ve learned is that the work of reinventing letters and words produces something compelling and relatable to those who identify themselves as belonging to, at some point in their lives, underserved communities.
In October 2021, I had the opportunity to organize a legal graffiti mural event in Kensington, Philadelphia, an area which I found out to be an epicenter of the opioid crisis. With its history of violent crimes, Kensington became stereotyped as the unwanted part of Philadelphia, the place to avoid—a fate shared among many neighborhoods across America and beyond.