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By JENNIFER MOONSONG
Glasgow News 1
Who are the people, and where are the places that helped build you? That is the question posed by The Foros Project, which took the Bridge Kentucky mural in downtown Glasgow painted on the side of the Mitchell Terry Building to a whole new level.
If you’ve driven in downtown Glasgow as of late, you probably couldn’t help but notice the newest mural, completed by local artist Casey Page. The mural displays bookends with the names of locals who’s families purchased a book spine as a measure to support the non-profit, Bridge Kentucky. Some of the names are of those still with us, some of the names honor those who have gone. Now, the Foros Project has taken things a step further in the way of preservation. The word “Foros” comes from ancient Greece, and means “tribute”.
However, the project was born only this summer. Ironically, that is what The Foros Project is all about; bringing the old and the new together.
“We kicked around quite a few name possibilities,” said Justin Browning, co-founder of The Foros Project. He and his business partner, Brian Pickerel, settled on the word Foros because it adequately encapsulated everything it needed to, and could apply to living persons and deceased persons, as well as places and landmarks.
The Foros Project is named for a Greek word meaning “tribute”.
The idea for the project has taken wings in Glasgow and Barren County where both Browning and Pickerel were born, but the idea came to fruition up East in Boston.
“I was walking on the Freedom Trail in Boston on a graveyard tour, and an idea popped in my head. The tombstones give the names of the people and the dates, but that is all it gives you. On the tour you learned the stories of two, three or four people, but you walked past 500 you don’t know anything about, and everyone has a story,” Browning said.
Coming home to Barren County, Browning started discussing the idea of how to better tell the stories of people and places with Pickerel, his friend since high school. Both Pickerel and and Browning also have companies dedicated to content creation. It was not only intriguing from the big picture stand point, but it struck a personal chord with Pickerel.
“I could have asked a dozen people, but I knew Brian really caught the feel of where I wanted it to go,” Browning said.
“My Dad coded a year ago in September, and I grabbed my camera and microphone and I asked him to tell me about his life, and what it was like growing up with my grandparents. My kids didn’t know my grandparents at all. I asked Dad what he would you like to say to his great-grandkids,” Pickerel said. He knew others would like their own history documented in a similar fashion.
Browning has a personal connection as well. His father died at the young age of 55, and his children never had the opportunity to know him personally. In fact, his father Jackie Browning, for whom the Jackie Browning Park is named, is memorialized in the mural.
An aerial view of the Bridge KY mural at the corner of Race and Main in Glasgow is one of the first undertakings of The Foros Project.
“I want my kids to know my Dad,” Browning said.
From that, The Forus Project was born and has quickly taken root.
If you walk past the Bridge Kentucky mural at the corner of Race and Main, you will note a recently added QR code. It links to their website, where you will find tribute stories for six of the people honored in the mural. Although the six videos are brief, the co-founders stress that the tribute is as big or as basic as you want to make it.
“It can be very basic or to can be very in-depth. It is whatever the client wants to make of it, and what their purposes are,” Pickerel said.
Browning and Pickerel admit that interest in The Foros Project is ripe, but is currently limited by their capacity to work it, based on the expected constraints of time and life. However, they know what they have to offer is something everyone can appreciate.
“I love living here, and I love small town USA. I think that this project has a place in every small town that desires to preserve history and stories. We have to ask, how do we build up, encourage and edify these small towns?” Browning said.
New technology in the internet-driven world is what makes the capturing of stories for generations to come possible, but at the same time Browning and Pickerel know it is what we’ve lost along the way that makes this project so important to them, the community, and generations to come.
The Foros Project is dedicated to preserving the stories of people and places existing and departed that built the community.
“Culture has changed, and the way we have lost front porch conversations and dinner table conversations has impacted us all. We are consumed with our own stories, and telling them on social media whether they’re true or not,” Browning said. They want to rectify that.
“We hope to scan a QR code and know the entire story of these small towns. We want people to know that Luska Twyman was the first black man to be mayor this side of the Mississippi, we want people to know every story has value and should be told. We are all children of God, born in God’s image,” Pickerel said. In that way it is personal, and also so much bigger than the here and now.
In the great scheme of things, Browning would like to see a shifting trend where the new is used to preserve the old.
“I think there is going to be a renaissance of storytelling, and this generation will bring it to the table. We want to tell our stories, with a level of authenticity that brings passion, meaning and desire, so I am fairly confident we will witness a revitalization of stories, that brings the feels and not just the facts,” Browning said.
To see the stories of those featured in the mural, scan the QR code. To learn more about The Foros Project, visit the website at forosproject.com or click here to follow them on Facebook.
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