“Redact Hamtramck draws on a large set of aerial photographs of the city from 1949–1997, commissioned by the utility company DTE. After downloading extensive digital imagery from the Wayne State Library Collection, the artist uses a grid system to collate the images, transferring the information onto a larger scale. The charcoal map is updated weekly during the exhibition by erasing and redrawing entire building blocks as the city landscape changed decade after decade, moving to represent the city up until 2012 with the assistance of Google Maps satellite imagery. The installation situates the editorial notion of “redaction” as a form of information blockage in the context of urban renewal; the I-75 highway in the late 1950s especially impacted the African American community of northwestern Hamtramck, causing substantial housing loss and forced relocations. Redact Hamtramck captures the effects of urban change on residents. It encourages viewers to write down their personal memories onto large sheets of paper bordering the charcoal map.”

— Curator Nadja Rottner’s wall label text for Andy T’s Urban Vision