Reflections in Lafayette Park

“Reflections in Lafayette Park” has been made possible in part by a major grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Reflections in Lafayette Park is a collaborative project that reimagines a historic garden and reflecting pool located behind the Felipe de Neve Branch of the LA Public Library in Lafayette Park. Situated within the Westlake neighborhood, Lafayette Park nurtures a dynamic, culturally diverse public space, which represents larger socio-cultural transformations affecting Los Angeles and other large cities. Through temporary exhibitions, site-specific artworks, and programming that engages scholars, artists, youth, and families, the project seeks to complicate the narrative of urban violence often associated with Westlake, reactivating an under-acknowledged public space in Los Angeles. This community-driven project is a collaboration between the Felipe de Neve Library Branch of the LA Public Library, Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), cityLAB UCLA, and multi-disciplinary artist Hannah Kim Varamini, and has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.