Transylvania university professors and creative partners Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde concoct a stylish send-off for their multi-faceted “Unlearn Fear + Hate” project. Photo furnished
On Thanksgiving Day 2012, Transylvania University professors Kurt Gohde and Kremena Todorova introduced an ambitious community art project to Lexington – one they weren’t sure would be a success. That project, called the Lexington Tattoo Project, was embraced so enthusiastically, however, that it became the foundation of several offshoot projects and activities that would resonate well beyond the Lexington community – and even take the artists around the world.
This November, as the creative partners wrap up one of their most monumental projects to date, they will also mount a gallery exhibit looking back at six years of unexpected opportunities that grew from a simple idea: asking people to get free tattoos.
Gohde, a Transylvania art professor and chair of the university’s division of fine arts, and Todorova, an associate professor of English, had collaborated on a number of projects before they attended a reading by Transylvania alum and poet Bianca Spriggs in the summer of 2012. Taken by Spriggs’ powerful words and voice at that reading, they approached the poet and asked her to pen a special poem – a love letter to Lexington – for a wild idea they had.
The other big “ask” of the project was to invite local residents to commit to tattooing a phrase of the poem onto their bodies. The tattoos were designed by Gohde and Todorova, with a unifying font and style carried throughout all of the tattoos.
Unsure if many would be willing to participate, they were thrilled when 253 individuals quickly signed on, their shock continuing to mount by reports of how many others would have taken part if the project hadn’t been limited to a specific number of participants.
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The tattoos for the "Lexington Tattoo Project" were designed by Gohde and Todorova, with a unifying font and style carried throughout all of the body art. Photo furnished
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The tattoos for the "Lexington Tattoo Project" were designed by Gohde and Todorova, with a unifying font and style carried throughout all of the body art. Photo furnished
With so many clamoring for another opportunity to connect, in 2014 Gohde and Todorova approached award-winning poet and multidisciplinary artist Frank X Walker about creating another love letter – this time to the world – that would be the basis of a global community connected by tattoos, visual art and spoken word.
In the years since the Lexington Tattoo Project was introduced, Gohde and Todorova have helped coordinate single-city tattoo projects for Boulder, Colorado, and Cincinnati with their own poems and artwork; the “Love Letta’ to de Worl’” poem and artwork was also used as the basis of a single-city project in Englewood, a neighborhood in Indianapolis. Unlearn Fear + Hate stencils and halos have traveled with the artists, showing up in places as close as Nashville and as far away as Los Angeles, and have appeared internationally in locations as varied as South Africa, where the professors traveled last year to engage with communities surrounding the project, as well as Bulgaria, Palestine and Thailand, among others.
But now, four years after the project’s inception, Gohde and Todorova are now ready to step away as the organizing force behind Unlearn Fear + Hate and let the project’s new wings take it where it will. For the final local community project in the Unlearn Fear + Hate cycle, a series of coloring parties hosted recently in partnership with the Lexington Public Library, the professors designed coloring pages adorned with plants indigenous to Kentucky that have medicinal properties. Adults were invited to color them, and the colored pages have been used to create physical and digital art that will be featured at Gohde and Todorova’s upcoming exhibit at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center.
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Betty Abdmishani in front of a local Unlearn Fear + Hate halo, printed in Spanish. Photo furnished
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Joy Bolton Berry in front of a local Unlearn Fear + Hate halo, printed in English. Photo furnished
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Hoda Shalash in front of a local Unlearn Fear + Hate halo, printed in Arabic. Photo furnished
One of the most exciting parts of the exhibit’s opening reception – which takes place on Nov. 16 as part of Gallery Hop – is another video that will be on display: the final video compilation of tattoos from the Love Letter to the World project and the revelation of the “secret image.” The secret image appears when photos of the individual tattoos are arranged in a specific order. As with the Lexington Tattoo Project, which revealed an image that represented Circle 4 – a reference that has meaning to everyone in Lexington – the Love Letter to the World has an associated image that currently remains unknown to all but Gohde and Todorova.
While they promise additional surprises at the event, another very special part of the project’s culmination will be the installation of a permanent Unlearn Fear + Hate halo in a prominent downtown location. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the halo will be 25 feet in diameter and will hang six stories above the ground.
While installation of the piece is dependent on weather, they anticipate it will be installed sometime during the run of the exhibit.
“We’ve been working on this permanent installation for two years,” Gohde said. “Finding the right location was extremely important, as we wanted this in view of the Historic Lexington Courthouse and Cheapside Pavilion because of the history of the location as both a center of government and a slave auction block.”
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Todorova and Gohde with Los Angeles painter Izzy Holden in front of an Unlearn Fear + Hate mural that was installed in that city in August. Photo furnished
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Though not part of Gohde and Todorova’s original vision, stencils with the phrase “Unlearn Fear + Hate” have been distributed around Lexington and other communities. Photo furnished
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Though not part of Gohde and Todorova’s original vision, stencils with the phrase “Unlearn Fear + Hate” have been distributed around Lexington and other communities. Photo furnished
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Though not part of Gohde and Todorova’s original vision, stencils with the phrase “Unlearn Fear + Hate” have been distributed around Lexington and other communities. Photo furnished
As the multi-faceted project draws to a close, Gohde and Todorova know that Unlearn Fear + Hate will continue to live on through community-driven events and projects, as well as through the permanent installations, which include both the large halo as well as seven halos that were installed in the new University of Kentucky Student Center, representing the seven most commonly spoken languages at the university.
The pair have started thinking about what their next collaboration will be, and while they are still in the early planning stages, they know that, like most of their work, it will be participatory and community-focused.
“We think about ease of participation, and we consider every participant to be a collaborator,” Todorova explained. “We like our work to be a ‘sneak attack,’” Gohde added. “Before you have a chance to say, ‘This is art, and I’m probably not going to understand it,’ you are already intellectually and emotionally engaged.”
Unlearn Fear + Hate Gallery Exhibit
On display Nov. 16-Jan. 6,at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center (141 E. Main St.). An opening reception will take place Nov. 16 (5-8 p.m.).