Empowering Clerks Network (ECN)
This unique report card was issued to me 7 years ago and is the most precious document I have. It was 2am, at the end of a semi-spontaneous community art festival at “Makhne Yehuda" - the West Jerusalem market. We were about to close the event and go home when two guys showed up with a big plastic container and invited people to their "office" (an empty vegetable stand). They had them sit on produce boxes while they issued them a new end of the year report card. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, but being drunk and excited for the success of the event, I went along with it. I don’t remember how they introduced themselves, they asked me if there was any school year that was somewhat hard for me. I thought about it for a few minutes since I had many bad years in school, many moments full of shame, sadness, low self-esteem and lack of true friendships. Eventually I decided to share with them my first grade experience.
Soon after sharing my traumatic episode with them I was issued a Refurbished Report Card, in which I was described as a wonderful kid, that no one should disturb from developing exactly as he already is. A lovely and creative child who is perfect just the way he is. Besides getting straight A's in all of the classes (both semesters) I was sent into the next grade - freedom, and I wasn't allowed to attend the class of boredom and fixedness. I was described as a child who fulfills his huge potential and that can deal with life challenges in the best way possible. I got sent early to second grade out of love (and not out of my first grade teacher's issues around fucking) and with faith that I'd keep discovering my true self.
I couldn't stop thanking them. It might have been the most meaningful artwork I've ever participated in and I can't overstate how it affected me as a person, a teacher, a parent and an artist. Yes, art can be serious, expressive and sad and many other things, but it can also, using very simple tools, make people happy and empowered and explore the boundaries between "art", "loving-kindness", "therapy" and "humanity". I'm not even sure if these two guys considered what they did as art (that’s a different conversation), but I would never look at my first grade experience the same way after revisiting it with them. I don't think I still have my report card from first grade, but this report card will stay in my heart forever. Our memory is tricky - if we tell ourselves a story many times, we remember it as if it really happened. If I'd tell myself this alternative story about me as a child, my mind might consider it a reality. So why not tell ourselves, sometimes, alternative versions of our past?
For years I was thinking about that work. I told and wrote about it many times, trying to figure out the magic component of it. Recently a friend invited me to her studio and gave me an old stamp collection as a gift. As she pulled it out of the shelf she found another box with blank certificates and said “maybe you can find a use for these.” Right away I thought of the two guys at the market, and a few days later I started issuing Certificates of Recognition. I usually phrase the certificate together with the participant during a short interview in which I ask the questions about his or hers qualities in life and areas they deserve recognition for. Once an Empowering Clerk and an eligible witness sign it and seal it, it becomes an official document.
This unique report card was issued to me 7 years ago and is the most precious document I have. It was 2am, at the end of a semi-spontaneous community art festival at “Makhne Yehuda" - the West Jerusalem market. We were about to close the event and go home when two guys showed up with a big plastic container and invited people to their "office" (an empty vegetable stand). They had them sit on produce boxes while they issued them a new end of the year report card. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, but being drunk and excited for the success of the event, I went along with it. I don’t remember how they introduced themselves, they asked me if there was any school year that was somewhat hard for me. I thought about it for a few minutes since I had many bad years in school, many moments full of shame, sadness, low self-esteem and lack of true friendships. Eventually I decided to share with them my first grade experience.
Soon after sharing my traumatic episode with them I was issued a Refurbished Report Card, in which I was described as a wonderful kid, that no one should disturb from developing exactly as he already is. A lovely and creative child who is perfect just the way he is. Besides getting straight A's in all of the classes (both semesters) I was sent into the next grade - freedom, and I wasn't allowed to attend the class of boredom and fixedness. I was described as a child who fulfills his huge potential and that can deal with life challenges in the best way possible. I got sent early to second grade out of love (and not out of my first grade teacher's issues around fucking) and with faith that I'd keep discovering my true self.
I couldn't stop thanking them. It might have been the most meaningful artwork I've ever participated in and I can't overstate how it affected me as a person, a teacher, a parent and an artist. Yes, art can be serious, expressive and sad and many other things, but it can also, using very simple tools, make people happy and empowered and explore the boundaries between "art", "loving-kindness", "therapy" and "humanity". I'm not even sure if these two guys considered what they did as art (that’s a different conversation), but I would never look at my first grade experience the same way after revisiting it with them. I don't think I still have my report card from first grade, but this report card will stay in my heart forever. Our memory is tricky - if we tell ourselves a story many times, we remember it as if it really happened. If I'd tell myself this alternative story about me as a child, my mind might consider it a reality. So why not tell ourselves, sometimes, alternative versions of our past?
For years I was thinking about that work. I told and wrote about it many times, trying to figure out the magic component of it. Recently a friend invited me to her studio and gave me an old stamp collection as a gift. As she pulled it out of the shelf she found another box with blank certificates and said “maybe you can find a use for these.” Right away I thought of the two guys at the market, and a few days later I started issuing Certificates of Recognition. I usually phrase the certificate together with the participant during a short interview in which I ask the questions about his or hers qualities in life and areas they deserve recognition for. Once an Empowering Clerk and an eligible witness sign it and seal it, it becomes an official document.
