Osseo Senior High School Celebrates 100 Years with 100 Portraits
It matters to be a part of something. Just look at the many black-and-white pictures of faces in Osseo Senior High School’s “We Belong” project.
Pasted on walls in the hallway and its courtyard are 100 different faces with 100 different stories.
“Visibility and connection is such a huge part of students feeling like they belong to a community,” said Jen Cramer, an art teacher at OSH.
Cramer brought “We Belong: A Celebration of Community and Inclusion” to the school this year. It’s a localized part of “Inside Out,” an international public art project. The large portraits capture and showcase people of all walks of life in public spaces.
It was created by French artist JR back in 2011. Cramer is a longtime admirer of the project, and Osseo Senior High’s 100-year celebration seemed like the perfect time to implement it.
“It is all about community, belonging and inclusion. We have a beautiful makeup of students here at Osseo, and so many beautiful faces representing the diversity we have here,” Cramer said.
The display was celebrated with a reception on Tuesday, June 3.
The artists held a reception to share the finished project with the community.
Larger Than Life
About 80 of the photos are of current students, while 20 are of alumni, many of whom are staff at the school now. The photos are larger than life, pasted up by students in a vibrant collage. Cramer said there’s some power to it.
“There is something really special about the scale of them, and how when you stand in front of it you are absorbed by it, because they are bigger than you. I don’t know; there’s just a symbolism to that,” Cramer said.
Her students, with her help, put together the project in the third trimester. One of her photographers, sophomore Mina Hirdler, said she loved the idea of the project.
“I got so excited that I would be part of something that worldwide,” Hirdler said.
Being part of it was even more exciting. Hirdler thinks she took between 35 and 40 of the displayed portraits. All of those revealed different personalities.
“You can take a look at these walls, and understand what our community is like here, which I think is really special to have,” Hirdler said, looking around at the wide array of faces in the courtyard.
Hirdler stands in front of a wall covered in posters of her classmates. She said she thinks she took 35-40 of the portraits.
‘A Way I Made a Mark’
Another student was captured on the wall in his own image — senior Alphauls “Kiev” Russell. He said he was tapped to be a part of the project as a former art student. He didn’t realize what it could be.
“I was like, well, Ms. Cramer just needs a face. So I can be a face!” Russell said.
Though Russell’s contribution started small, he eventually ended up on a ladder helping put most of the posters up. He’s also one of the many faces of the project. When he graduates this week, he said he’ll be proud to have been a part of something that leaves a legacy.
“It’s like a way I left a mark on the school,” Russell said. “This was one of the ways I could be like: ‘I’m here! I was here!'”
In Cramer’s words, it’s street art– so it isn’t meant to be permanent. But it’s supposed to share a message.
And it seems that the project is having its intended effect. Students were asking about it as it was being installed, wondering how they could be a part of it.
As Russell and his classmates head to graduation, their impacts are pasted on the wall. And they got to be a part of something.
A full gallery of portraits is available on the “We Belong” page of the “Inside Out” website.
Of the 100 portraits displayed, most of them were pasted outside.
Osseo Senior High School
