Embellished abandoned houses, cardboard boxes and other junkyard rejects form an oasis of aesthetically-charged protests against social inequality. This protest is Tyree Guyton’s “Heidelberg Project.”

Detroit-based Guyton took his art to a new level of inspiration by founding the project, which he spoke about at the Wexner Center of the Arts last Friday.

“I really appreciate the work because I live downtown and I can understand the issues he’s trying to address,” said Jane Carroll-Hughes, alumna and communication coordinator for the Knowlton School of Architecture. “Trying to change the community is a very powerful thing.”

The project is an outdoor art gallery that began on Heidelberg Street in the ghetto of Detroit in 1986.

Abandonment, desolation and poverty are all common concepts for the urban poor, but Guyton found beauty in them.

“I began to see life in junk; beauty in the ugliness,” Guyton said.

The project has been influential for urban development studies as well as art education and urban tourism.

“Our purpose is to share the vision that has had a profound effect not only in Detroit, but the U.S.,” said Jeanine Whitfield, executive director of the Heidelberg Project.

Since the Detroit riots of 1967, the city has suffered economic and social strain, which is still evident in certain communities.

“I thought the world was coming to an end, and the city has never recovered,” Guyton said.

Taking a drive down Heidelberg Street before the project would give a person a view of dilapidated houses, apathetic faces and lost hope. The sensation of despair would permeate every ounce of self-consciousness.

“I grew up on Heidelburg. There was a lot of chaos,” Guyton said. “My mom wasn’t able to buy shoes for me, so she bought second hand shoes and I’d put cardboard in them.”

From an early age Guyton felt the calling to art, and wanted to impact the community through his passion.

“I was always told no, when I mentioned I wanted to be an artist,” Guyton said. “However, my grandpa gave me a paintbrush and ever since then it was like magic.”

Guyton took his life experience and incorporated art into it to create the “Heidelburg Project” as a vehicle for social change. He employed all the community’s resources including the abandoned houses, the junkyard and the neighborhood residents.

“I can take anything and put meaning into it, but to take it beyond and use it as medicine to make a person well again, that is where the art is,” Guyton said.

The project has sponsored external and internal projects encouraging children to get involved in art. The Children’s Home of Detroit uses art as therapy for teenage girls who have suffered abuse.

“He has put a tremendous effort to create safe neighborhoods for children and adults,” said Jennifer Evans-Cowley, assistant professor for city regional planning.

However, not everyone in the community or the city of Detroit has been accepting of the project. The city had the project destroyed twice – the first time because of neighborhood opposition and the second time because developers were interested in the area.

After each demolition, Guyton rebuilt the artwork with more help from children and supporting neighbors.

“I’m not here to argue aesthetics,” Guyton said. “I’m here to talk about how the project’s working to bring life to the community.”

Guyton focuses on community development as well as cultural diversity. He uses polka dots to paint the houses, streets and telephone polls. The dots represent people of different ethnicities.

“All the paintings are the faces of God because he has many different faces,” Guyton said.

As a post-urban artist, Guyton strives to challenge the city of Detroit to take notice of the plight of poverty, ignorance and segregation that has afflicted so many communities throughout the U.S.

“This is an awesome dynamic, that makes politicians really nervous because Tyree has found a skilled way to tell the government ‘you need to pay attention to your communities, the poor and the uneducated,'” Whitfield said.