“Where We Live” is the current exhibition at Urbano Project, an innovative organization that provides free, socially engaged art education to teens. In the dynamic and exciting fashion that marks Urbano’s style, the opening reception at the group’s Jamaica Plain Brewery Complex headquarters was an interactive, multi-ringed circus of performance, film, conceptual, and visual arts.

In her opening remarks to the crowded gallery, Stella Aguirre McGregor, Urbano Project’s founder and director, provided an overview of the evening’s events and its many installations, describing the “work on a par with a lot of professional exhibitions.”

Some of “Where We Live’s” component parts had been previously shown but the powerful art and performance pieces certainly deserve a second look. On view again are works created by over 20 young artists as part of the annual “Violence Transformed” exhibition that was inaugurated in April at the Massachusetts State House.  (Violence Transformed” is an ongoing program of exhibitions and events that will continue this spring and summer at multiple locations across Boston.)  Created by teens ages 15-19, the paintings and sculptures movingly describe the all too common carnage that marks the lives of many young people.

To an approving audience, Urbano’s Teen Spoken Word Curators reenacted their poetic performance “Violence Transformed” that debuted last month on the State House’s stairs.  The original group piece puts into words the horror that is similarly reflected on the gallery’s walls.  “Where We Live” provides a second opportunity to see Mexican artist’s Pedro Reyes’ Palas por Pistolas, or Shovels for Guns, created by melting down more than 1,500 weapons.  McGregor reminded attendees that one of the shovels will be used to plant a tree at next Saturday’s Wake Up the Earth Festival near the basketball courts on Jamaica Plain’s Southwest Corridor.

Among works presented for the first time at “Where We Live” was a sound installation piece created by Urbano’s students and instructor Alison Kotin. Kotin explained that the conceptual artwork is constructed of a camera and motion detector that tracks visitors’ movements. When someone steps insides an area demarcated by tape on the gallery floor, the system is activated to play ambient noises and the voices of Urbano’s teens. 

For “Where We Live,” Urbano’s Teen Film Curators selected and played a continuous video loop made by disadvantaged high school students in New York and Boston. The short films document their experiences living abroad as volunteers in rural villages.  

On display also is “Wheels of Life and Hope,” two heart-wrenching, painted fabric panels. Measuring ten feet in circumference, each of the fifty spokes of each wheel commemorates a casualty of homicide, and was painted by a victim’s family member.  Under coordinating artist, Suzanne Boucher, “Wheels of Hope” was created for the conference Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation Conference held in 2001 at Boston College.

“Our Boston” is a monumental mural created specifically for “Where We Live.”  The 20-foot work was created collaboratively by a team of Urbano’s young graphic designers. It depicts major landmarks of the city like the Zakim Bridge and Fenway Park but also illustrates locales from the students’ neighborhoods.

In conversation with Urbano’s talented teens, it became clear that the quality of their lives and exposure to violence is a consequence of “where they live:” 

Dacia White, 14, of the West End declared that she’s “lucky that her neighborhood is peaceful and calm.”  

Likewise, 18-year old Samantha Casseus, a Roslindale resident who attends Boston Latin Academy said that “nothing happens” in her community. 

Regine Nicolas, 17, lives in Canton.  “It’s a safe place,” she stated, except for occasional fights at Canton High where she is a junior. 

By contrast, Mission Hill resident Jaelyn Montes said “there are a lot of gangs, violence, and drugs.”  She described her neighborhood as a turf war where teens cannot leave their own streets.  “One of my best friends was killed two weeks ago.” 

Hyde Park resident Kevin Emile stated that violence has touched this suburban section of Boston “with houses and trees. There are break-ins and the killing of a Domino’s delivery man,” he stated.

“There’s a cycle of revenge,” said a 20-year old who goes by J_ONES, who lives in Roxbury.  The aspiring poet, rapper, and songwriter attends Roxbury Community College where he is majoring in English.  “Every night there are sirens, police, and ambulances." Like all of the other students, J_ONES spoke highly of his involvement at Project Urbano.  “I’m proud,” he said.  “You can go in a different way here.  Although there are a lot of bad things,” he added, “I wouldn’t live anywhere but Boston.  I love this place!”

Project Urbano (617-983-1007) is located at 29 Germania Street.  “Where We Live” will be on display until May 8.  Hours at the gallery are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

 A tree planting using one of the shovels from Palas por Pistolas/Shovels for Guns will take place on Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m. at the Wake Up the Earth Festival to remember gun violence victims in Jamaica Plain.

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

“Where We Live” is also part of the Boston Cyberarts Festival, a two-week long celebration of new art, technology, dance, and music, at various locations in and around Boston.