On an unusually cold Monday morning in March of 2023, Mary Ellis Stevens put her AP Research project into action. She is a senior at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, NC. She put out a stool, a small sign - “Take one to PROJECT YOUR INSECURITIES” - a box of black sharpies, a QR code that linked to a Google Form that was consent, acknowledgment of performance art, and nudge to take it seriously.

“I understand that participation in performance art is a vulnerable and complex experience. I acknowledge that I will need to think deeply and ask questions of myself that may be uncomfortable.”

Clad in a new white t-shirt and black running shorts, she sat and let her research unfold, in the middle of a large, urban high school campus. Mary Ellis sat while people wrote their insecurities on her shirt, neck, arms, legs, and chest. Some students leaned in and were vulnerable…

At this high school, the reality of race, segregation, history and the present are complex, weighty and difficult. It is notable in this context, the Black students got close and vulnerable while their white peers interacted along a wider spectrum of distance and proximity. The last interaction was a conversation with 4 Black male students, all previously unknown to her. They were curious and kind; it was cold and her goosebumps were visible. They offered coats and hoodies. They asked her questions. They did not write but they leaned in to see, to hear and to care.

One of the final images created shows Mary Ellis: words visible, fists clenched. I asked her if her fists were a physical reaction to the research or the cold. She simply replied, “both.”