(CBS DETROIT) – Detroit artists are replacing their voices with their paint brushes to speak on issues impacting their communities.
Dr. Chanel Beebe has been painting nearly her entire life.
“Paint has always been like a real easy and relaxing medium,” she said.
Beebe uses her paintbrush as a tool to express herself.
“It kind of just made me feel like the more I create, the more conversations I can have.”
Her work centers around her advocacy for social and education equity. She is hoping her art will create spaces to discuss issues affecting people in Detroit.
“Art is a conversation. At a certain point, artist are going to start having difficult conversations on their canvas,” she said.
The artist is starting a conversation through their work at a Detroit art exhibit called Swords in Plow Shares. It’s where Beebe’s work was among several pieces featured in a show called “Community Power: Artist Demand More From DTE.”
“This piece is called power flux, and it shows how temporary power structures can be,” she said.
Beebe and other artists’ work focuses on the utility company, illustrating the community’s frustrations with power outages and what they believe are high rates.
Ian Matchett, who is the director of the Peace Center and Gallery, says he and other artists wanted to use a canvas as their platform to advocate for their community.
“We’ve been working for the Work For Me DTE campaign and Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition among some other partners who are really doing the underground community organizing work building up grassroots support for pushes to hold DTE accountable to make sure the state commission on utilities doesn’t just hand them what they ask for and really make sure that residents voices are heard,” he said.
Dozens of people attended the event which also included an open mic night.
“We got energy and real energy and power inside of us,” said one of the poets.
“Live wires on east side streets just minutes after rain, power off, flooded drains, these companies can’t see our pain,” another said.
They were sending a message to DTE through art with Beebe hoping her piece also speaks to the community.
“To me, the most important thing to remember is how temporary these things are and to stay present with the power that’s within us as people, as artists but more importantly as communities,” Beebe said.
In response to the anti-DTE art installation, the company sent CBS News Detroit the following statement:
“While power flows reliably for our customers 99.9% of the time, we know how frustrating it is when there is an interruption. That’s why we’ve submitted an investment strategy to the Michigan Public Service Commission that would increase reliability by more than 60% over the next five years. Our strategy includes spending $9 billion to accelerate our four-point plan to improve reliability for customers. As part of this plan, the city of Detroit would see more tree trimming, new substations, rebuilding and undergrounding areas of our equipment, and a transition to a smart grid.”
