Entertainment

Artist Ise Lyfe Turns Abandoned Housing Project into Work of Art

Published

13 years ago

June 21, 2013

Abandoned, boarded up, and forgotten about housing complexes sit in communities throughout Oakland. Now, one artist has returned to his hometown to transform one dilapidated East Oakland housing project, Greenside, into a work of art.

Oakland native and renowned international and interdisciplinary artist Ise Lyfe is using the property to showcase a new level of a conceptual multi-media art exhibit.

“I feel it’s really important to take the opportunity to tell the story, not only of this particular site but of folks growing up in public housing,” said Ise Lyfe. “I see housing as a human right, and all people have a right to good housing, healthy housing.”

Ise Lyfe has been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam series and traveled the world telling stories of struggle, pain, sacrifice, growth, and change. Unwilling to forget his hometown, he has pushed himself to the limit to create a body of “provocative” art that tells a story of Oakland’s public housing system in the art exhibit, “Brighter than Blight”.

Greenside housing complex, located on the corner of 77th and Bancroft avenues, has been condemned for a decade. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the project was a major hub for drugs, violence, and illegal activity. Ise Lyfe and his brother Michael Savannah grew up in East Oakland and now call the abandoned complex the “standing dinosaur” of the community.

“For years this site was notorious for illegal activity, but a lot of people have come from this place and survived the struggle of living in Oakland,” said Savannah, who is managing the “Brighter than Blight” project. Oakland’s Affordable Housing Initiative provided the funding for Ise Lyfe to produce the project. The Oakland Housing Authority and District 6 City Councilmember Desley Brooks have also fully supported the program.

“The story of East Oakland is typically told from a negative lens… In the Brighter Than Blight Art Exhibit Ise Lyfe has brilliantly communicated the beauty, creativity, complexity, strength, humor and depth of the lives of the residents of “Greenside”,” said Councilmember Brooks. “This project is the first of its kind in the country between a local artist, a city council office and a Public Housing Authority. I am thankful to Oakland Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Johnson and his staff and the California Affordable Housing Initiative for their vision and courage to move this project forward,” she said.

Ise Lyfe’s conceptual art exhibit will showcase’ photography, paintings, sculptures, and literary works to tell the story of public housing. A tribute to grandmother’s house, video montages featuring testimonials of former Greenside residents and life size print-outs of provoking spoken word pieces are just a few of the art projects being featured. Savannah says the project is geared to serve as “a voice for those who won’t speak for themselves, to speak for the good and bad happening in public housing so stories won’t go untold.”

More than 30 young people, many of whom are living in public housing complexes, will serve as guides, directing guest through the hour-long exhibit; some youth will share their narratives of growing up in public housing in hopes of encouraging people to become apart of the discourse.

Ise Lyfe hopes his work sparks a trend for more art projects of this sort to happen, and project manager Michael Savannah says expanding the project throughout the city is definitely something they are thinking about once this project is completed.

“When we say ghetto and hood, we think Black. With “Brighter than Blight”, I am saying we are brighter than the negative circumstances here,” Ise Lyfe said.

The exhibit will show for two weeks, June 21 – 23 and June 28 – 30. When the exhibit closes, the art will be placed in museums and public housing complexes throughout the city. Admission to the event is free and all are encouraged to attend.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BrighterThanBlight. Visit the Post News Group’s website to get a first look at a pieces he has created for the exhibit. Visit www.postnewsgroup.com

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Activism

OP-ED: AB 1349 Puts Corporate Power Over Community

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, ticket prices have jumped more than 150 percent. Activities that once fit a family’s budget now take significant disposable income that most working families simply don’t have. The problem is compounded by a system that has tilted access toward the wealthy and white-collar workers. If you have a fancy credit card, you get “presale access,” and if you work in an office instead of a warehouse, you might be able to wait in an online queue to buy a ticket. Access now means privilege.

Published

2 days ago

January 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

By Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

As a pastor, I believe in the power that a sense of community can have on improving people’s lives. Live events are one of the few places where people from different backgrounds and ages can share the same space and experience – where construction workers sit next to lawyers at a concert, and teenagers enjoy a basketball game with their grandparents. Yet, over the past decade, I’ve witnessed these experiences – the concerts, games, and cultural events where we gather – become increasingly unaffordable, and it is a shame.

These moments of connection matter as they form part of the fabric that holds communities together. But that fabric is fraying because of Ticketmaster/Live Nation’s unchecked control over access to live events. Unfortunately, AB 1349 would only further entrench their corporate power over our spaces.

Power over live events is concentrated in a single corporate entity, and this regime operates without transparency or accountability – much like a dictator. Ticketmaster controls 80 percent of first-sale tickets and nearly a third of resale tickets, but they still want more. More power, more control for Ticketmaster means higher prices and less access for consumers. It’s the agenda they are pushing nationally, with the help of former Trump political operatives, who are quietly trying to undo the antitrust lawsuit launched against Ticketmaster/Live Nation under President Biden’s DOJ.

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about AB 1349 in its current form. Rather than reining in Ticketmaster’s power, the bill risks strengthening it, aligning with Trump. AB 1349 gives Ticketmaster the ability to control a consumer’s ticket forever by granting Ticketmaster’s regime new powers in state law to prevent consumers from reselling or giving away their tickets. It also creates new pathways for Ticketmaster to discriminate and retaliate against consumers who choose to shop around for the best service and fees on resale platforms that aren’t yet controlled by Ticketmaster. These provisions are anti-consumer and anti-democratic.

California has an opportunity to stand with consumers, to demand transparency, and to restore genuine competition in this industry. But that requires legislation developed with input from the community and faith leaders, not proposals backed by the very company causing the harm.

Will our laws reflect fairness, inclusion, and accountability? Or will we let corporate interests tighten their grip on spaces that should belong to everyone? I, for one, support the former and encourage the California Legislature to reject AB 1349 outright or amend it to remove any provisions that expand Ticketmaster’s control. I also urge community members to contact their representatives and advocate for accessible, inclusive live events for all Californians. Let’s work together to ensure these gathering spaces remain open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of income or background.