We Are Cary - 150 Years Later is a community art project celebrating the people of Cary.

In January and February 2020, the project team began work with the Cary’s Public Art Teen Docents to collect photographs of the eyes of the people of Cary and photos that would tell the stories behind their eyes. In March, everything changed. The priorities became keeping our community safe and providing a means for creative expression.

The project became the story of all the people who contributed to the We Are Cary - 150 Years Later Project: the community members who donated t-shirts and made t-shirt rope to help us make over 300 masks to give away, the kids who wrote “Happy Birthday, Cary” messages at our Downtown Cary Farmers Market booth, the selfie-takers who shared their masked portraits, the families who shared stories of being welcomed to Cary in recent years, and the folks who told us about being here for decades. Though 2020 forced the project to change shape, our inspiration remained the same: the people of Cary are what make it special.

Project Team: Jan-Ru Wan (Lead Artist), Megan Bostic, Samantha Pell and Tiff Wei 

Thank you to all of our amazing project participants! 

Special thanks to: Cary’s Public Art/Exhibition Staff, Cary’s Public Art Teen Docents, Patrick Fitzgerald, Shaun Kurian, Matt Jones, Jeffrey Krauss, Cary Downtown Farmers Market, Green Level High School Visual Art Students and Slater Mapp

Learn more about the Cary150 Celebration and don’t forget to spread the word!