Kaleidoscope of influences,
Part of Terrain Biennial 2017

in collaboration with Whitney Huber and Lisa Kaftori

For the 2017 Terrain Biennial—a large scale public art exhibition responding to neighborhood and home in times of strife—kaleidoscope of influences celebrates the power and agency of the three feet of influence each of us has in the world.

The question “How do you measure your three feet of influence?” is the point of departure for a project about the powerful effects a neighborhood could potentially have on the world. We, artists Whitney Huber, Joan Giroux, and Lisa Kaftori, liken an individual neighbor to a butterfly and a neighborhood to a kaleidoscope of butterflies—a shimmering, reflective group of change agents—the kaleidoscope effect—the potential of small gestures of kindness and bravery magnified exponentially...

kaleidoscope of influences invited friends and neighbors, in Chicago and beyond, to share their stories of how they measure their three feet of influence.

Responses from visitors in the form of stories, drawings, poems, letters, photos, and videos were posted at a former website over the course of the biennial.