My project re-visits a rather utopian moment in the recent history of Carroll Gardens: one in which several grassroots organizations sprung up with no other motive other than to preserve and protect the quality of human/natural life that exists in several small, human-scale Brooklyn communities.

This is a selection of images from the “Democracy Wall” an interactive wall of art protesting large-scale development in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. For 13 months, I contributed to and documented this community, interactive artwork in Carroll Gardens, where I live. Located at the once public Carroll Street subway plaza in central Carroll Gardens, the “Democracy Wall” was described as, “part wall mural, part information archive” in a News 12 Brooklyn segment, featuring the “Democracy Wall.”

The “Democracy Wall” included paintings, photographs, newspaper clippings, blog excerpts, personal comments, drawings and links to the CORD* Petition, from May 2007 to April 2008. It became a symbol of my neighborhood’s strong opposition to luxury development in our low-rise, brownstone community, threatening the original planning of Carroll Gardens by the urban planner Richard Butts in the 19th century. In an on-going dialogue and protest, my neighbors and I were able to express ourselves freely in public at “Democracy Wall,” and by signing and leaving our comments on the CORD Petition: Protect Our Homes. Two of the petition comments are exhibited here, with many others on the audio tape.

“The Democracy Wall” effort led to the creation of several Carroll Gardens grassroots coalitions including *CORD/Coalition for Respectful Development (of which I am a Co-Founder), SoBna, and USBA, which are now serving to both awaken and educate the community as to the critical importance of our neighborhood voices in the planning and shaping of our communities’ futures.

“Of all the things we have covered and publicized in the last 2 1/2 years, the Democracy Wall and the role it played in founding CORD is one of the things of which we are proudest. It is the way things should be in terms of grassroots action.” - Robert Guskind, Gowanus Lounge.

- Triada Samaras