When Alexis Met Tony

“It would have been nice to see you come in your regular clothes, bring a pizza or something,” Alexis Ward told the assistant chief of police. ​“So we could have a regular conversation.”

In the end, though, that’s exactly what they had.

And that was the point.

Ward attended a public forum at Artspace at Orange and Crown streets Tuesday night designed to broaden the public conversation about a controversial art installation at the Goffe Street Armory that featured a pig wearing a cop’s hat. In October, the city asked that the piece be reoriented to face away from the street; artist Gordon Skinner opted to take it down altogether and have it exhibited inside the Artspace gallery instead.

At an earlier forum on the same topic, community members discussed ideas of censorship and expression. As a result of those conversations, Skinner’s piece will be remounted this Saturday at its original location with additional signage explaining the artist’s intent. City culture czar Andy Wolf called the city’s initial request to move the piece an overreaction.

Artspace invited top cops and other city officials to talk with concerned citizens like Ward at Tuesday evening’s forum. And talk they did.

Assistant Police Chief Tony Reyes responded to Ward’s sartorial suggestion.

“We’re here in uniform because this is who we are … I’m here in deference, not in authority.” he said. ​“Wearing regular clothes is the easy part. It’s a lot harder to sit here in uniform and take criticism.”

Another audience member, activist Jesus Sanchez, criticized police presence at protests like the recent demonstrations about wage theft and about the name of Yale’s Calhoun College. Reyes said officers must prepare for the worst-case scenario. If something bad happens, he said, people will ask why police were not prepared. But building trust begins with constant communication, a bedrock of community policing, he said.

“I’m Tony,” Reyes said. ​“What’s your name again?”

“Alexis,” Ward said.

“Tony and Alexis need to know each other,” Reyes said. Ward nodded in agreement.

Reyes said building relationships between police and civilians enables officers to more effectively protect protesters. Both parties will trust each other more, he said.

Conversations alone cannot bring about tangible change, Ward argued. ​“I’m still black when I get home, and tomorrow I still might get shot,” she said.

On Skinner’s work itself, Police Chief Anthony Campbell said, ​“I’m not shocked by it at all. Something like this creates conversation.”

“I’m not offended by it. I really am not,” Reyes said.

Skinner said he has begun work on a second instantiation of the same urban art project. He invited two of his colleagues to present short, interpretive performances to show the themes that have inspired his works, including the piece with the pig.

Attallah Sheppard performed a poem called ​“Liberty’s Cry,” an account of inequality in America told from the perspective of the Statue of Liberty. Passionate performances and difficult, emotional conversations are necessary for a productive dialogue, Sheppard said.

“This is a moment of discomfort,” she said, ​“and it is OK.”