Visualizing the ’Hood: Archiving and Imagining Futures Through Creative and Visual Arts in Black and Latine Communities

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Three
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT022 (Friday)

Abstract

This research-in-progress explores how creative and visual arts function as third spaces for Black and Latine youth to reconcile the past, navigate the present, and imagine equitable futures. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, this study examines archival and contemporary artifacts from Compton, Watts, South Central, and East Los Angeles, tracing how art and community spaces have shaped youth identity, belonging, and resistance. Through the visual history of the Communicative Arts Academy (1970–1976) and current youth art initiatives, this project investigates how creative and cultural spaces serve as living archives that preserve collective memory and inspire future art abolitionists. By unforgetting community histories through art and archiving, we consider how education research can sustain creative futures rooted in justice and imagination.

Author

• Abigail Lopez-Byrd, University of California - Riverside