As a public art installation, the Venezuelan writer and poet Israel Centeno chose 100 words, relevant in some way to Pittsburgh. Neighbors were invited to host a “word in residence,” meaning that they would display a representation of their word, designed by the Venezuelan artists Carolina Arnal and Gisela Romero, on the wall, or door, or window of their houses. River of Words became wildly popular. It was meant to be up for a year or so, but the people who hosted the words became so fond of them that they didn’t want to give them up. As Reese writes:

Intended to be temporary, the neighbors who gave a home to the words asked the artists if they could keep their words and the work became permanent. Initially, this caused a problem with the Historic Review Commission, but the community—the associations and individuals—on their own rallied and negotiated with the commission to keep their words up. During the appeal process, the Allegheny Central Civic Association wrote that “To date, the ‘River of Words’ installation is the best example of public art that has been executed and embraced by the whole North Side community.”

The project has taken on a second life, this time in the form of oral history. Caitlin Bruce, a communications professor at the University of Pittsburgh, interviewed the word owners and recorded their responses.

People reflected, among other things, on how the words came into their lives, how their experience with the words changed their perspective of the neighborhood, and about the impact of public art on the community.

Here is just one selection of Bruce’s interviews, this one with Lynn Kosegi:

Caitlin Bruce: ... I wanted to turn now to the River of Words project. Can you tell me what word you have, how you got involved, and kind of what that experience was like?

Lynn Kosegi: Sure. I have two words: “Use” and “Equation.” ... “Equation” I think I chose for a couple of reasons. Just because, I’m pretty involved in healthcare, very interested in healthcare delivery, work for a software company, so, you know, mathematics and tech is very big in our minds, and using it to improve healthcare and to improve life for patients and then coming to the War Streets, sort of seeing how the different pieces of this particular neighborhood fit together, and how diverse it is, and how there are such interesting things right down the street like City of Asylum and the Mattress Factory and Randyland. I just kind of thought “Equation” was something that brought everything all together.

Bruce: Great. And so can you tell me what it’s been like having the words on your house? Have any stories come about because of the words? Have you met anyone new?

Kosegi: Oh! I happened to have been home the day that they [the artists] came by to put them [the words] up and a lot of people in the neighborhood, they hadn’t read about it, and particularly my next door neighbor, she came out and was kind of just wondering what was going on and so I told her, and so the artists came over and were talking to her and where she’s been—they were from Venezuela, and she had been there several times, so she asked “Oh, can I have a word too?” so she picked a word too, and then it turned out that some people across the street saw it, and everybody was just asking about, “Well, what are these words,” and here, when they put the word “Equation” up it was actually spelled wrong, so instead of having a “q” it had a “c” and I kind of kept my mouth shut and was thinking, “Oh, maybe that’s how its spelled in Spanish?” I don’t know, but then one of the artists pointed it out, and were like “Oh no!” it was kind of half the Spanish spelling and half the English spelling so they brought back another piece of metal later on to turn the “c” into a “q.” So, it was kind of funny. So that was funny, just the reactions to that, and then the reactions from the neighbors, it was just fun. We were all just standing outside on the sidewalk on a summer’s day and it was just fun. I don’t intend to take them down. I like them.

Bruce: So the last question I have is about public art more generally. Can you tell me what you think the role or the social function of public art is both in the North Side and then in Pittsburgh more broadly?

Kosegi: Oh gosh. I think helping to both create an identity for a community. I think it actually helps to create the community. Especially for a city like Pittsburgh that, I mean, I was a teenager in the ’70s and I can remember when the mills started leaving and when Pittsburgh was really suffering, and I really think the arts and that kind of culture is part of what helped turn this city around and to turn it into the kind of city that ends up on every “Best Something or Other” list that is out there right now, and I think art plays a huge part in that, both in creating the community that we are and in communicating who we are to the rest of the world.