Blog Post 3

The fact that Tim Rollins is a working class white guy and the KOS are under-performing students from Bronx, NY makes their relationship one to question. But even though it is one to question it is one that works. I believed that this relationship worked because Tim did not enter into the Bronx and try to impose his beliefs on the children or overpower them with white/European literature. Instead he gave them a doorway into a different life. A life in which they would be recognized for their artwork and not a life of being looked upon as failures. In fact the artwork rarely even shows Tim Name on it, even though he is the founder of the program. This gives way for all the credit to be given where it is deserved to the under-performing students in the Bronx where their art can shed the light on the hardships and struggles they face everyday in their lives. It gives them a chance to show the world through their eyes and not through some white guy perspective.

This medium of allowing under-privileged and under-performing students to create art for the world in which they live in is a very powerful one. I believe this collaboration could work in other areas of society. I believe it could work in Miami, Florida. Even if it was lead by Tim Rollins, a white guy, in a vastly different culture than one in New York, I believe it would still work. As long as the views of the under-performing students in the area were able to express their feelings and not the feelings one was creating for them to believe. The empowering nature of this project could help all under-privileged children have a voice and a will to show the world what horrors they live through everyday. Maybe if more collaborations existed such as KOS, society would not turn a blind eye to these children in need.