“Violence Transformed” is an annual undertaking that brings together affected neighborhoods across Boston “to express collective horror, commemorate victims, foster healing, and imagine alternatives.”

Jamaica Plain was well represented. Young artists from JP’s  Urbano Project figure prominently in the show. Vasili Luzanau's  black and white “Flash” shows a blinding burst of gunfire. Jorge Pimentel's "Word Point Blank" is a graffiti-smeared sculpture incongruously hung at ceiling height near a marble column at the State House setting. 19-year old Jeffrey Cott's "I Like It Because of the Beat” depicts two abstracted figures, one holding a gun and the other with a guitar in hand.

The project is a collaborative effort between artists, community service agencies, museums, and academics. This year’s participants include Children’s Hospital, Wheelock College’s Ubuntu Arts, Roxbury Community College, the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, and the Jamaica Plain-based Urbano Project, an innovative organization that provides free, socially engaged art education to teens.

The fifth annual series of visual and performing arts events was kicked off on April 12 with a reception at the Massachusetts State House.  The occasion was celebrated with the opening of the travelling “Violence Transformed” art exhibition, live poetry, and an award ceremony. 

Although unified by its emotional theme, the exhibit is a highly diverse one that brings together young and old artists both well established and as yet undiscovered.  Exhibiting teen artists included Ron Wilhelmsen, Ann Tobey, and Brian Price whose moving mixed media work "Last Walk" used newspaper clippings to commemorate a victim of gun violence. "Don't Feed the Flame" by 14-year old Mia Diers is a portrait of terror seen through the eyes of a sadly unsheltered child. 

Raskassa Ramsey is a junior at Boston Arts Academy who created the piece “Escaping” for the show. Framed in wire, the work shows the Boston skyline under a bullet-shattered glass. The 17-year old student, who lives near Dudley Square, plans to attend Mass Art. “My mom tries to keep me inside,” he said.

The exhibition also includes “Palas Por Pistolas” ("Shovels for Guns") by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes. The piece, which was previously displayed at Urbano Project’s Jamaica Plain gallery, was made from over 1,500 handguns that were collected and melted down to make shovels. 

At an awards ceremony held in the State House’s elegant Doric Hall, two young artists from Urbano Project, were presented with “Violence Transformed" Honorarium Awards for their accomplishments.  Teen Visual Art Curator Jeffrey Cott, a 19-year old student at Mass Art, apprenticed for four years at Urbano Project.  Spoken Word Curator Demakis Miller-Jones, is a student at Roxbury Community College where the 20-year old musician and poet is studying to become an English teacher.

The State House event was enlivened by a performance from Urbano Project’s Spoken Word Curators.  The poetic young rappers previewed their performance piece “Where I Live” on the hall’s Grand Staircase.  (“Where I Live” is the theme of an upcoming event at the organization’s Brewery complex space on April 29.)

“If you watched the papers,” said Mary Harvey, the founder and director of “Violence Transformed,” “you’d think that there was nothing but violence in Roxbury, Dorchester, and JP.”

Urbano Project's creator Stella Aguirre McGregor paused from giving Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo a tour of the exhibition to say that one of the shovels from Reyes’ “Palas Por Pistolas” will be used to plant a tree on the Southwest Corridor in JP during the community’s annual springtime “Wake Up the Earth Festival.”  (McGregor added that another tree will be planted in Egleston Square's Peace Garden, as well as at other sites across the city.) 

From bullets to blossoms, it is hard to imagine more appropriate examples of “Violence Transformed.”

Violence Transformed:  From Risk to Resilience: Harnessing the Transformative Power of Art” will be on view at Roxbury Community College’s Resnikoff Gallery from May 1-31.

For a complete calendar of “Violence Transformed” events, please see the project’s website.