The Reccolective Prospectus for West Austin Park is a proposed approach to the improvement and maintenance of the park located at 1317 West 10th street in Austin, Texas, 78704. The document outlines a prospectus centered around preserving the cultural memory of the neighborhood, protecting the area from residential and green gentrification, and community building as opposed to new construction and updated attractions. Accompanying the document are three images: a collaged map visualizing the goals of the proposed approach, a marked street map noting the items listed in the Mnemonic Index of Park Amenities, and a colorfully illustrated presentation of the area with five areas obscured by large patches of white paint.
The Recollective Prospectus was created in response to the Conceptual Master Plan for West Austin Park presented by the Friends of West Austin Park organization in 2013. My prospectus critically deconstructs the colonial priority for the needs of wealthy, white people that is assumed FOWAP's proposed approach. (this is clear even in the association of slavery terminology in the title 'Master Plan')
Through visually representing my recollective experience of the park, mapping the established structures and histories in the park, and appropriating the FOWAP Master Plan through physical alteration, I developed a critical understanding of my relationship to this landscape and deduced a restorative approach that both adapts the park to meet the communities needs and protect the area from green gentrification.
This project for me represents my developing a critical and loving analysis of the landscape I was raised in and the effects this landscape had on my development.
