Ella Alden Pope moved a lot when she was younger, from one part of the Twin Cities to another. The housing varied along with the neighborhoods, from well-maintained to well-worn. And she could tell the difference, physically as well as mentally. “It’s hard to focus and do your best when you’re not feeling healthy day after day,” she says.
“The Sun Shines Over My Heart” by Ella Alden Pope
Alden Pope, who recently graduated from Highland Park Senior High School in St. Paul, is one of more than thirty teen artists who created the works now on view in Mia’s Community Corridor gallery, reflecting on the health effects of racism. The teens, all from local high schools, joined professional artists for workshops at Mia, choosing artworks from the galleries to reimagine through their own perspective.
Alden Pope’s piece references an ancient shrine head from the Yoruba culture, in what’s now Nigeria, suggesting an inner dignity amid inhospitable environments. A photograph of two people, their unhealthy appearances created through color manipulation, are framed by broken pieces of metal. Allusions to black mold draw attention to sometimes hidden sources of chronic illness in dilapidated buildings. “I like to challenge people about issues that I care about,” she says. “If you’re given a platform, use it.”
The project is sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota as part of a larger campaign to address racism as a public health crisis. It’s the third time the organization and Mia have partnered to present student work on the topic.
“This collaboration empowers students, giving them a different way to find their voices, engaging in creative storytelling through art,” says Bukata Hayes, chief equity officer and vice president of racial and health equity at Blue Cross. “When it comes to challenging topics like historical and contemporary systemic racism and health inequities, art is a powerful tool for sparking conversation, raising awareness, and inspiring society to drive positive change.”
“Hands Hold Power” by Aiyana Beaulieu
Aiyana Beaulieu, who graduated this spring from Perpich Arts High School, was inspired by Christi Belcourt’s 2021 painting It’s a Delicate Balance, which melds flora and fauna to show the interconnectedness of life, how threats to one species—or one community—affects another. “Interconnection is a belief held by Indigenous people that we’re connected to the environment and to each other,” says Beaulieu, who is from the Brainerd and Bemidji area and has Ojibwe roots. “When we hurt, others feel it.”
Noting parallels between her Anishinaabe heritage and Palestinian culture—in art and in ways of life—Beaulieu created a piece about the connection between Indigenous communities in the Americas and Palestinians facing displacement and threats of genocide. A medicine wheel suggests healing, living in harmony with the world. A pair of hands coming together symbolizes what we make of this world, the power to make it better and healthier—or not. “It is a choice whether we use our hands to create or to destroy,” she says.
Preparing for the work, Beaulieu researched traditional Palestinian pottery and tatreez, a form of embroidery recognized by UNESCO in 2021 as an important intangible cultural heritage. Within the tatreez, she included a palm tree motif, which represents resistance and resilience in Palestinian culture. Ojibwe floral designs grow from one of the hands, mirrored by an olive branch on the other. There is a hopefulness in these images of living things, cultivated by hand, she says. Change is a choice. “For everyone, and especially as young people in this world,” she says, “it is up to us to break these cycles of trauma in order to truly heal.”
See “Racism as a Public Health Crisis: Teens Reimagine the Collection” at Mia through August 4.