The There in the Here: Examples of Community Art Attempts at Escape

Abstract

In this presentation, I share multiple examples of my collaborative artistic output that has sought to make space for myself and other artists who aim to connect their art practice with their anti-imperial aspirations. I circle these assertions: Artistic output that provides or facilitates respite and moments of exception from a status-quo that serves the few. Artistic collaboration help us rehearse the possibility of more fully sharing our world. Artistic output and collaboration can provide space to reassert our right to do no harm. I give away examples of this creative work and exploratory handouts analyzing each of the highlighted artistic productions. In part, this presentation will be an attempt to respond to the challenge Ariella Aisha Azoulay outlined in her book, Potential History, to “transform violence into shared care for our common world.” How have my collaborations neared that or not? Further, as a labor organizer, I am particularly interested in Azoulay’s focus on what it might mean to “go on strike” not just in protest but as a move to create opportunities to care for each other “as a worldly activity, a mode of engaging with the world that seeks to impact it while being ready to be impacted in return.”

Presenters

Marissa Johnson Valenzuela
Associate Professor of English, Community College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Poster Session

Theme

The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life

KEYWORDS

Borders, Imperialism, Art, Collaboration, Care, Shared World, Escape, Undoing