Bull City

Durham, North Carolina, USA

From tobacco to tech, “City of Medicine” to “Startup Hub of the South,” Durham is a city on the move. Students, entrepreneurs, Artstigators: Here are voices defining the Bull City.

Produced with StoryDriven and Duke University.

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This Emmy Award-winning story dives into “pickle power,” a multi-university collaboration with Mt. Olive Pickle Company to generate electricity from pickle wastewater.

Jackie Aiken, a working mother of four, finds a wonderful parenting partner in Partners for Youth Opportunity. Now, her children have more resources, mentors, and work opportunities.

What says "Bull City" better than a bull? In 2007, Leah Foushee sculpted Durham's iconic bull statue with her husband, Mike Waller. Now, the metal sculptors have two young children molding their lives everyday. Leah’s series, Buttons, explores the generational journey of mothers “keeping it all together." Full episode.

Newspaper sales agent by day. Hip-hop mentor by night. Josh “Rowdy” Rowsey heads up the local cypher scene. Through Blackspace, he’s committed to helping African-American youth discover their “God voice.” Full episode.

For the 20th anniversary of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, North Carolinian filmmakers, volunteers, and festival-goers celebrate the power of documentary film. Full episode.

Trash to treasure: Steve Peters transforms reclaimed wood into beautiful furniture for his community. Full episode.

A retired environmental consultant, Jim Capel leads bird walks throughout Durham’s natural parks. In a raucous era of polarized tweets, he invites us to tune in to the “small miracles” chirping in our backyards. Full episode.

“SuperGeek” Ashlyn VanDine refurbishes computers for kids who can’t afford them. On the side, she teaches other teens how to code. Full episode.

People or profit? Living wage employers in Durham show it’s possible to choose both. Produced for the exhibition Trying to Get By: [Not] Making Ends Meet in North Carolina.

la ciudad de primavera eterna

Medellín, Colombia

Medellín was once known as “the most dangerous city on earth.” Thanks to urban innovations in art and architecture, the “city of eternal spring” is now experiencing a rebirth.

Produced in 2014 with Mobility Movilidad for Through Our Eyes, a multimedia exhibition bringing emerging young artists at the National University of Colombia to cities across the United States. Their perspectives complicate dominant narratives of Medellín and highlight 21st-century environmental and social justice crises.

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Cristina Echeverry: Un Retrato de La Artista

Growing up in Medellín, Cristina Echeverry has witnessed the “everyday” deaths of neighbors in gang wars. When a casual stroll becomes life-or-death, can the body be truly free from the straitjacket of territorial violence? Through photography and projection, Cristina roams the fractured streets she calls home.

Santiago Ramirez Rios

Santiago is a full-time jokester. But behind the laughs, he aches from the violence and inequality he has experienced in Medellín. In this honest reflection on urban design, Santiago shares why architecture is his key to survival and transforming urban space.

Parque Biblioteca España

A university student, tour guide, and founding elder bear witness to the transformation of Santo Domingo – once the most dangerous barrio in Medellín – thanks to a "library park.” Parque Biblioteca España is dismantling the neighborhood's legacy of violence with art, education, and storytelling.

— Photo Stories —

Feria de Las Flores

The finale of the annual Flower Festival: A parade of silleteros, or flower bearers, carry heavy, beautifully decorated displays of flowers (silleta) down from the mountainside town of Santa Elena to the city center. This tradition commemorates the end of slavery, as slaves once carried people on their backs up the steep hills.

Escaleras Eléctricas

For the 12,000 residents of Comuna 13, the addition of outdoor escalators in 2012 turned a dangerous 28-story hike into a 6-minute stroll to reach the city center. More importantly, this urban innovation helped the destitute community regain control from violence between guerrillas and drug traffickers. By cutting a clear path through the neighborhood, the escalators severed the territorial power of the armed conflict. Now colorfully painted by neighborhood artists, Comuna 13 is a peaceful testament to Medellín's urban transformation.

Plaza Cisneros (Parque de las Luces)

The lights of Plaza Cisneros stand in a square once known as the city's hub of mass transit. From tradesmen to thieves, the railroad connected all kinds of crowds until its bankruptcy in the 1960s. When the square became a hotspot for crime, the mayor converted it into the recreational space seen today with a public library.

“Construimos un territorio con cultura y memoria”

The Moravia Cultural Development Center is a neighborhood space for arts and culture, hosting everything from theater lessons to music festivals. The phrase on the mural says, "We build a territory with culture and memory" - a poignant transformation from Moravia's origin as the city's rubbish dump, where displaced communities constructed homes from trash.

¡GOOOOOOOL!

Electrified fans cheer on Colombia’s futbol team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.