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Maren Hassinger grew up in Leimert Park. She studied dance and sculpture, earning an MFA in fiber arts from UCLA. Her early work in Los Angeles integrated her versatile talents in collaborative projects with other artists including Senga Nengudi, Ulysses Jenkins and David Hammons. Her metal rope sculpture is largely recognized as seminal visual language and Hassinger has become a powerful voice for women and artists of color. Her work balances the durability of sculptural materials with graceful forms that suggest movement as well as women’s work.
Hassinger also works with unconventional materials like plastic bags, tree limbs and leaves. Her work invites viewers to engage their own narratives and emotions within the stories she tells through material and form. For her contribution to Destination Crenshaw, Hassinger focuses on emotions engendered through interaction. An Object of Curiosity, Radiating Love is a large pink fiberglass 6 foot diameter interactive orb that glows soft pink when viewers approach it. Hassinger is an expert in resonant work and An Object of Curiosity, Radiating Love is the most conceptually abstract of all Destination Crenshaw’s permanent commissions, yet it is also the most accessible three dimensional work because of its immediate visceral impact. Always interested in pushing the medium and the experience, Hassinger wants people to both feel and communicate with An Object of Curiosity, Radiating Love as it is encountered outside, in the open expanse of communal space as a symbol of the love vital for our communities in service to one another, and to resist gentrification and erasure.
The Destination Crenshaw project will create new sidewalks, 30,000 new square feet of landscaping, six pocket parks, 800+ trees, and culturally stamped street furniture (including outdoor seating, shade structures, bicycle racks, and wayfinding signage).
Click here to learn more about opportunities for you to work with the DC construction team to revitalize the Crenshaw corridor.
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In May 2017, Destination Crenshaw was incorporated as an independent non-profit corporation with the purpose of celebrating the history and culture of Black Los Angeles through a 1.3 mile-long art and cultural experience along the Crenshaw/LAX Line. The Destination Crenshaw project will act as a counterbalance to gentrification, solidifying the Crenshaw neighborhood by supporting legacy businesses and fostering a Black creative economic and cultural hub.
Destination Crenshaw’s mission is to improve the quality of life and revitalize the economy in South Los Angeles through arts and culture.
