Neighborhood loses its popular 'Corner' art

The six faces in the life-size photographs stood for 13 months in an empty lot at the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, coaxing drivers and pedestrians to gaze at their expressions of warmth, love, steeliness and strength.

"The Corner," as it was called, started as an experiment in community storytelling where people could call a "story hotline" and share their tales of the neighborhood. It soon became a popular and respected feature at an intersection notorious for gunfire, drug deals and vacant storefronts.

But you won't see the photos there anymore. The Corner was taken down this week — and its 28-year-old creator, Jenny Asarnow, says she had no choice.

The story goes like this: In June, Asarnow got an e-mail from police Officer Tim Greeley, who wrote that numerous people were concerned about one of the residents pictured, Anthony Knowles.

Knowles, aka Saviour Knowledge, was charged in June with selling crack cocaine on that corner. He was also allegedly carrying a firearm, according to court records.

Knowles, 55, who has a criminal record, is known in the neighborhood as a caretaker at a nearby shopping center.

In the e-mail, Greeley wrote that neighbors asked him to request that Asarnow to take the photograph down, because they considered Knowles part of the problem endemic to that area, said Sean Whitcomb, police department spokesman, reading from the e-mail.

Asarnow responded the next day and said she would comply.

"The police department has no authority on what art stays or goes," Whitcomb said. "We didn't ask her to take it down. He (Greeley) was simply sharing information from the neighbors. We don't police art."

Included in the e-mail exchange was Jim Mueller, who owns the empty lot where the art was installed.

Mueller and Asarnow originally had an agreement that he could give her notice at anytime to take "The Corner" down, she said. (Mueller was traveling and not available for comment.)

Asarnow said she tried to think of different ways to keep the project. She said she contacted various artists about installing paintings instead but couldn't line anyone up.

Meanwhile, she said, a month had passed and she got another e-mail from Greeley asking when the project would be coming down.

That's when Mueller told her to remove it, she said. "It wasn't something I really had any power over," she said. "I respected Jim's decision."

On Monday, she posted word at the Central District News neighborhood blog, saying the pictures, shot by photographer Inye Wokoma, would be gone.

Jean Tinnea, who's lived in the neighborhood for 32 years, was among the six featured in the portraits.

She said she's sad to see the exhibit go because "it became a fixture. It grew roots."

She called "The Corner" a "howling success" because it got hundreds of people involved.

More than 200 messages were left on the hotline, and 875 people called in, some of whom spent up to 20 minutes just listening, Asarnow said. Some of the stories, which included everything from race relations to historic boom times to the crack epidemic, aired on KUOW 94.9, where Asarnow works as a producer. (The project was funded by a grant and not connected with KUOW, Asarnow said.)

The installation was supposed to be up for only three months. Asarnow said the fact that it stayed one year longer was more than she could have hoped for.

Ultimately, she said, she discovered how hungry people are for dialogue in this troubled area.

"(The Corner) made people listen to each other and talk to each other," she said. "It's humbling that you put an idea out there and people respond to it and make it their own."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com