Zaria Smalls

Zaria Smalls

When tasked with creating a sketch of Harvard University from the athletic fields to the law school, I made the assignment into a personal challenge to exhibit how accurate and expansive my knowledge of Harvard was. In reality, that challenge was not the assignment I was given. For this sketch of Prudential Center and Newbury Street, I wanted to focus more on the experiential aspect of the two spaces and make more of statement on the space I encountered.

The first time I went to Newbury Street, I only wanted to eat; however, I found that most of the restaurants felt overpriced for the food they offered. The first time I went to the Prudential Center, I ate at least twice. Of course, expensive restaurants existed in the mall but the entirety of the mall didn’t feel as class restrictive. With this information in mind, I approached this sketch as a social commentary on class aversion to certain spaces based on food accessibility and pricing. I walked through both areas solely marking the cafes and restaurants I encountered and the pathway I took. I put dollar signs on each store location based off my perception of the price of food in comparison to the amount of food received. None of the restaurants on Newbury St. dropped below two dollar signs; all the shops where you could buy food provided seating. Nor were all restaurants on Newbury Street accessible to people of all abilities. Meanwhile, not every store front that served food had seating but the Prudential Center itself had more space for public seating, in the sense of green spaces, benches and a food court. The places that were expensive provided more private seating. Overall, I think Newbury Street poses as an inaccessible space for those of lower socioeconomic class and non-abled bodied people. I hope these findings came through in my sketches.