Counter-mapping Providence

Panel discussion on alternative ways of mapping the city. This panel discussion is part of a one-day conference titled Radical Cartography Now: Digital, Artistic and Social Justice Approaches to Mapping. The entire conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Register here.

Counter-mapping Providence (and Tulsa)

Moderator: Marisa Angell Brown, Assistant Professor of Programs, John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Brown University.

Divide & Conquer: Are the Neighborhood Map Distinctions Creating Silos & Competition between our Neighbors?
Dwayne Keys, Chairperson, South Providence Neighborhood Association

Place Based Mapping and Cultural Preservation.
Presenter: Marta Martinez, Executive Director, RI Latino Arts

Corridor Communities.
Presenter: Pegah Rahmanian, Director of the Unity Center, Rhode Island College

Vacant Providence.
Presenter: Aaron Forrest, Associate Professor, RISD Architecture and Principal, Ultramoderne

Format: each presentation will run 15 minutes; the presentations will be followed by 20 minutes for audience questions and discussion.  

About the Speakers

Dwayne Keys has spent over 15 years advocating on behalf of historically excluded and disadvantaged communities. Dwayne serves as Chairperson of the South Providence Neighborhood Association (SPNA), leading efforts to provide public forums where all South Providence residents may have direct input in the urban planning decisions that shape the future of the neighborhood. He also ran for State Representative in the RI General Assembly in 2018. In addition to his advocacy and volunteer work, Dwayne is a full-time Financial Coach with Compass Working Capital, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial coaching and education to families and low-incomes residents to help them build assets and financial capabilities. With over 15 years of experience working in banking and financial services before joining Compass, Dwayne still participates in various personal finance programs amd economic prosperity events geared to eliminating poverty.

Marta Martinez founded the Hispanic Heritage Committee of RI (HHCRI) in 1988 and served as the Chair until 2013, when she was hired as Executive Director of the organization (now Rhode Island Latino Arts).  In August 2014, Marta published a book entitled Latino History of RI: Nuestras Raíces, based on her work with the Latino Oral History Project of RI. In 2004-2005, she was Coordinator/Developer of Coming to Rhode Island – Dominican Gallery, an exhibition featuring Fefa’s Market based on the history of Dominicans in Rhode Island at The Providence Children’s Museum in Providence. In 2003-2004, she was also Coordinator/Co-Curator of Conexiones a Traves del Tiempo, an exhibition on Latino history of Rhode Island in the gallery of The Rhode Island Foundation. She continues to promote the importance of collecting history as a way to enhance self pride and a sense of place by offering workshops to young people on the art of collecting oral histories, pairing them with elders and individuals who have a story to tell.  Currently, in collaboration with the Providence Preservation Society, Marta is working on a project funded by the National Trust, “Exploring Places of Significance to Rhode Island’s Latino Communities.”

Aaron Forrest is Associate Professor of Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design, as well as principal of Ultramoderne, an architecture design and research practice based in Providence, RI, which he leads with his partner, Yasmin Vobis. Prior to RISD, Aaron taught studios at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. He has extensive professional experience, having practiced in New York with Bernheimer Architecture and Guy Nordenson and Associates Structural Engineers, and in Madrid with Ábalos & Herreros Arquitectos.