“Pedaling Point” is a participatory community engagement project that includes workshops, interviews, public events, and a multimedia installation. The project explores connections among people from diverse backgrounds through two creative practices: visual storytelling and singing. Fourteen participants from refugee and immigrant communities, primarily in Oakland, CA, were paired to discover how their personal stories intersect. In the first storytelling workshop, each pair collaboratively translated their meeting into a visual storytelling paper scroll, reflecting both commonalities and differences. In the following singing workshop, each pair selected a song from their own repertoire, arranged a way to sing together, and recorded their performances. These outcomes were shared through public outdoor events and this multimedia installation at Richmond Art Center.

“Pedaling Point” was conceived and directed by Taro Hattori in collaboration with ARTogether, a refugee service organization. Creative workshops were led by Sabina Kariat, an emerging animation narrative artist, and Sahba Aminikia, an award-winning music composer. The project was funded by the Creative Work Fund and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. A full project description is available on the artist's website.

Participants: Ariam Araya, Arina Sarwari-Stadnyk, Benjamin Bartu, Joy Diaz-Noriega, Diana To, Jadma Noronha, Jason Wyman, Jorge Humberto Gutiérrez Cantú, Laila Waziri, Olivia Eng, Ruta Ghebrewold, Shelley Siegel, Somaieh Amini, and Aga M. Ruda.