In 2020, New York State rededicated East River State Park to the memory of Marsha P Johnson, an LGBTQ+ rights activist, self-identified drag queen, and forebear of the transgender rights movement. Starr Whitehouse led a rapid engagement process to identify an approach for commemorating Marsha’s legacy while incorporating diverse community desires into the park.... Continue Reading
In 2020, New York State rededicated East River State Park to the memory of Marsha P Johnson, an LGBTQ+ rights activist, self-identified drag queen, and forebear of the transgender rights movement. Starr Whitehouse led a rapid engagement process to identify an approach for commemorating Marsha’s legacy while incorporating diverse community desires into the park. Through conversations with neighborhood groups, Marsha’s family, State Parks staff, everyday users, representatives of the Smorgasburg food market, and transgender leaders of color, Starr Whitehouse developed a schematic design guided by residents’ drive to reclaim this industrial site as an unstructured green space—while honoring the struggle of transgender people of color for safety and recognition. Partnering with NV5, Starr Whitehouse developed this scheme into an inclusive park design that enhances openness, improves connections to the river, and encourages a broad range of activity. Commemoration is conceived as a journey from an entry gate that welcomes people of all backgrounds to Marsha’s park. Panels display a narrative collaboratively written by a team of transgender leaders of color. Flowering trees, perennials, and wetland gardens commemorate Marsha’s love of flowers, concluding with a mosaic overlook that reflects on Marsha’s life and the lives of other transgender women who were murdered. Driven by an ambitious schedule, phase one broke ground just three months after an engagement process described as “amazing” by Brooklyn CB1’s Steve Chesler.
Photo credit: © Sahar Coston-Hardy/Esto.
