For Jamaica House & Garden, I made an an Artist Plaque for the house of Clarence Williams & Eva Taylor in Jamaica, Queens and filed a proposal for a city medallion plaque for the house. I also commissioned one concert and two talks with part of my artist honorarum.
For Queens Art Express (QAX), a Queens Council of the Arts commission, I was asked the following question: "What If We Re-Made U.S. Housing Policy?" I chose to focus on Jamaica, Queens - site of exhibition and a neighborhood of many foreclosures. My proposal consists of two uses for the city's empty buildings: to be used for artist residencies that offer literacy services and, secondly, for headquarters that promote Jamaica, Queens - including it being the place Paul Bowles grew up: a s site to display his writings and translations of Moroccan folk tales, produce concerts of his music as well as the Berber folk music he recorded during field trips in the late 1950's and early 1960s.
QPTV review by Vanessa Gualdron:
Once you nearly complete your round around the space, you come across Anna Lise Jensen’s pieces. A combination of photographs taken in Jamaica, Queens coupled with excerpts of Paul Bowles, a Jamaica native, writing from his time spent in Tangiers. Jensen’s pieces were an inspiring way to end the show. While the other artists provided the public with the different realities of homelessness, she offers ways to deal with urban abandonment and displacement; focusing specifically on Jamaica. By keeping her proposal on a local level, I think Jensen instilled a feeling of community and alliance, a feeling you should walk away with.
I collaborated with artist Michael Wilson on a booklet, Artist Residency With Literacy Service, made during my residency at Arts@Renaissance in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I also invited Brooklyn House of Kulture and Annette Rusin to contribute booklets on housing and then produced all four as special editions for QAX.