Susan Wallner's entry into the
2019 Raw Vision short film competition
Kea’s Ark tells the story of how a 3-story ark came to be built in Newark’s devastated Central Ward in the mid-1980s.
Kea Tawana, a self-taught artist and builder, designed and built the massive boat by herself, using materials salvaged from 19th century buildings being torn down in an urban wasteland. She worked on it for years before Newark’s newly-elected mayor Sharpe James took note and demanded it gone.
It no longer exists, but Kea’s Ark remains a powerful symbol of hope in Newark and beyond.
