Michael Leavitt, 2024

Mini Mart City Park is a place for the arts, education, environmental action, and community collaboration in the Duwamish Valley. Over the past 17 years, led by artists SuttonBeresCuller, a former gas station on a contaminated neighborhood brownfield has been transformed into a community-led arts and culture center. Construction was completed in late 2021, and the doors opened in 2022. Mini Mart City Park hosts monthly art exhibits, classes, free workshops, community events and is an active environmental remediation site.

In a reimagined corner store, Mini Mart City Park will be displaying work by renowned sculptor Michael Leavitt. These new works are made from – and inspired by – recycled materials that are at once brutal and fun. The vibrant and visceral pop-art pieces are life-size replicas of politically charged objects, from sneakers to guns, that throw a bright light on toxicity and waste. Also on view July 6 to Aug. 18, 2024 at Mini Mart City Park, Trash Talking asks, what is truly disposable?

Image by Kevin Scott.