Nature Matching System

Mural Arts invited Staten Island-based artist Tattfoo Tan to work with young people at the Southeast by Southeast project space and surrounding community, as well as Sayre High School. Tan’s practice seeks to find different ways for the individual to exist in society. Working through methods of social practice, he creates environments where the line between artist and audience is extremely blurred. These collaborations manifest into rich shared experiences where artist and participants have a common agency in the work.

Tattfoo created a new mural at 641 Snyder Avenue called Nature Matching System. The work is just around the corner from the Southeast by Southeast storefront. The mural design is a grid pattern that is comprised of colors squares corresponding to different fruits and vegetables. Part of his community process is figuring out what foods are local to the Southeast by Southeast neighborhood and translating the simple text, “Remember to take your daily dose of color,” into the multiple languages that are present in the community: Karen, Chin, and Nepali. The completed project is a guide for neighborhood nutrition, informing residents the more colorful your diet is, the healthier you are.