The Heidelberg Project: Bringing Color, Art, and Controversy to a Decaying Part of Detroit
Photo: Paula Soler-Moya
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Watching the deterioration of his impoverished,
crime-ridden neighborhood of McDougall-Hall two decades after Detroit's
1967 race riots, artist Tyree Guyton felt the need to do something. So
he picked up a paintbrush and painted pastel polka dots all over his
grandfather's Heidelberg Street house.
Guyton's paint job was the first act toward what became the
Heidelberg Project, an outdoor community art project aimed at breathing
life back into his decaying district. Encouraged by his grandfather, and
with the help of local kids, Guyton began decorating the abandoned
homes beside the polka-dot house and installing art made from salvaged
materials.
The project now spans two blocks and is constantly evolving, anchored
by the altered houses. One ramshackle two-story home is covered in
stuffed animals. Another is painted with numbers of wildly varying sizes
and colors. Strewn across the yards are sculptures incorporating
decorated cars, shopping carts, doors, shoes, and household appliances.
Photo: Patricia Drury
Photo: Randy Wade
Though the infusion of color and creativity has attracted a stream of
appreciative visitors to McDougall-Hall, the Heidelberg Project has
some vocal critics. Chief among them is the city of Detroit, which
demolished parts of the community in 1991 and 1999.
Local detractors view the Heidelberg Project as an eyesore and health
hazard, and resent the fact that it draws further attention to
Detroit's urban blight. On November 12 of this year, the project's
"House of Soul," an abandoned house decorated with hundreds of records,
burned to the ground in a suspected arson attack. This followed a
suspicious fire in May, in which an art-enhanced building called the
"Obstruction of Justice House" was destroyed.
Undeterred, Guyton has responded to the destruction with relentless
optimism and vowed to continue expanding his vibrant art community.
Photo: Jessica Reeder
Photo: Wigwam Jones
Photo: Tocqueville 2012
Photo: Patricia Drury
Outsider art:
View The Heidelberg Project. in a larger map
Ella is a writer currently working on The Atlas Obscura, a book about global wonders, curiosities and esoterica adapted from AtlasObscura.com. Twitter: @ellamorton.
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