Carly: How do you think about weaving all of these narratives into an over-arcing story?

Shira: Many projects that I have worked on involve weaving together the personal and collective story. I am always compelled by personal stories, and the first step I take is to interview community members about their lives and experiences.

Laura: The bus as a framing device made it easy to connect the stories we were hearing since they all related geographically to the route, but also connected in terms of theme and experience. When I was recording and editing the audio pieces for example, I was really trying to make these connections apparent by weaving together sound bites that were making similar points, that individually would not be as powerful as when heard together.

Carly: Were there any stories that surprised you? How so?

Shira: There were many inspiring stories along the route, such as the bus driver who helped a blind man get to his stop, the youth who gave their seats to older people. There were stories of people who lived in rural areas who had not traveled on Septa and felt worried about where to put their fare. The cross of lives, cultures, languages, and experiences in public space is itself an inspiring story.

Laura: I think when people shared their first experiences riding the bus, that was most surprising. Coming from Mexico City, you can hop on and off the bus at any point, but here there are particular stops and ways to signal to the driver when you want to get off. The payment system is also confusing for first time riders, particularly those coming from another country. One rider told me he routinely overpaid because he didn’t know how much it cost and wanted to avoid problems by underpaying or having correct change.

There is also a spot along the route that I was always curious about near 5th and Westmoreland–it looked like a home gallery with robots made out of recycled metal parts in the window and sometimes out in the street. Through this project, I tracked down the artist, interviewed him and learned more about his work as a mechanic, and how he accidently got into creating these sculptures and the positive impact his art has had on the community. By telling others about this experience, I learned that other people had noticed the robots too, but never knew their origin or who was behind creating them.

Carly: Did you have a prediction about the outcome of this project, and was that prediction met? Or did you end up discovering something completely new and different?

Shira: I was happy to be able to interact through interviews and workshops with people along the line. I did not predict the outcome of the election, but I think the message of 47 bus, that we live in a richly diverse city and that this a great thing that we migrate together, resonates more. I was very upset about the anti-immigrant rhetoric during the precursor to the election and feel we need visuals in public space and online to state our values. The phrase “We All Migrate Together,” a quote from the bus driver, was really important.  

I also discovered some of Olney during research for this project that I hadn’t known about: Colombian bakeries, African hair braiding shops, and more. I discovered many great things happening at organizations such as Taller Puertorriqueño and the 5th Street Revitalization Project. During interviews in North Philadelphia, I heard women talk about perceptions people have about North Philly versus the reality of life there. I hope more people take the time to see the city, to learn about communities beyond their own.

Laura: And a big hope of this project was to actually bring people from the north and south ends of the route together to meet each other, and explore something outside of their neighborhood.

Another outcome that confirmed our ideas was that many riders already recognize and value the diversity of people on the bus and spoke about the unique community that is formed on the bus where people help each other out, perhaps more than usual. It may even be a special case of the 47 bus, as the driver told us that the community formed was not the case on all buses. I think it reflects in a small way a positive microcosm of the ways in which different groups, sometimes without a common language, are strengthened by this sense of ‘we’re in it together’ – and people look out for each other.

Carly: Tell me a little bit about your artistic partnership. And do you have advice for artists looking to collaborate with others?

Shira: I thought the collaboration with Laura was great! We had some similar goals for the project and this helped us collaborate well, and we each brought a slightly different skill set to the project which also enhanced a collaboration. I think good communication, being honest about what you really feel will be impactful to a project is helpful.

Laura: It has been a great collaboration! Shira and I each bring different strengths and I think the advice I’d give to others would be to play to your strengths when collaborating. Shira is a strong visual artist, and I enjoy interviewing people, doing outreach, and gathering big ideas into visual concepts. We shared design ideas for the wrap as it developed, and then worked together to refine the exterior and interior designs so they would seem unified and the message would be woven throughout and visually the elements would be connected. It’s most important to be on the same page about the message, and once that’s articulated, the design choices fall in place as a response to that. Audience was also a big consideration for this project–we had to consider the people that would only quickly see it in passing, and so the exterior had to be bold and clear, while the inside needed to reflect the multiple languages of riders and be something simple that riders could ponder. I worked on creating a ‘bus schedule’ that includes an alternate bus map, highlighting places of interest to riders and organizations we worked with, as well as some longer quotes from interviews, and the handdrawn route map that Shira designed.

Carly: Is there anything you’d like to add about this project, or about your next artistic steps?

Shira: I am really glad this project happened. I hope people take the 47 and experience the diverse rich route that it is–and step outside of a comfort zone and see the city. I will continue to work on the project Southeast by Southeast and hope to continue to build on the connections we have made on the project.

Laura: I think there is a lot of potential to expand the concepts behind this project–and work on different bus routes to draw out local histories, stories, and resources for riders. It would be great to have the opportunity to more fully realize this project and do programming around it to highlight the knowledge of community partners, and give people an alternative tour of the city.

Lastly, I think this project was created as much for bus riders as it was for people who don’t take the bus, to encourage people to get to know their city, especially the parts that are not part of their daily routine, to step outside of their comfort zone and experience something new.

Carly: Thank you both so much!

If you’d like to learn more about the project, join us to dedicate 47 Stories on Tuesday, December 13.