Artistic Activism and the Power of Collective Resistance Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 Program, curated by Selene Wendt
Building on our work in 2022, the EADJ Program will present a set of vibrant discussions that examine the consequences of social and historical inequities on the southern imaginary, as seen in art from Africa, Latin America, South Europe, South Asia, and the American South. The Spring Program continues to explore the potential for radical collaboration and togetherness across these disparate geographies.
Spring 2023:
Episode 8: Mending the Social Fabric of Our Time
Episode 8: Wednesday, February 1, 10:00 AM CST
This panel highlights the work of three contemporary artists who implement needle and thread to address sociopolitical issues. Artworks that will be discussed include large-scale installations, collaborative works, stitched works on paper, and embroidered textile-based works. If these artists share a mutual interest in exposing the fractures and ruptures of contemporary society, their approaches can also be understood as artistic strategies that have the potential to mend the social fabric of our time by raising societal consciousness and awareness.
Speakers:
- Sonya Clark, Artist
- Suchitra Mattai, Artist
- Aurora Molina, Artist
- Selene Wendt, (Moderator) 聽2022/23 EADJ Curator, Founder, The Global Art Project
Episode 9: A Collective Chorus
Episode 9: Wednesday, February, 10:00 AM CST
This panel explores the political, social, and cultural implications of music in relation to contemporary art, highlighting the significance of music as an expression of cultural experience and history. Taking a distinctly interdisciplinary approach, emphasis is placed on the importance of sonic politics as conveyed in the overlap between art and music. Building on the importance of music in relation to what Paul Gilroy refers to as 鈥渢he Atlantic as a system of cultural exchanges鈥�, this panel addresses the importance of music as a collective language of resistance and solidarity.
Speakers:
- Rahelah Filsoofi
- Neo Muyanga
- Matthew Ritchie
- Valerie Cassel-Oliver, (Moderator)
Episode 10: Bodies in Motion as a Call to Freedom
Episode 10: Wednesday, March 2, 10:00 AM CST LIVE PANEL
This panel pays homage to Saidiya Hartman and her ongoing research into what she refers to as 鈥渢he afterlife of slavery鈥�. More specifically, this panel draws direct inspiration from her observation in Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (2019) that 鈥渃horeography, in its broadest sense 鈥� this practice of bodies in motion 鈥� was a call to freedom.鈥� Pinpointing the sociopolitical significance of 鈥渢he dance floor itself as a movement against racism and an instrument in the reconstruction of American democracy鈥� her observations are of utmost relevance in relation to the interdisciplinary performances by the artists featured in this panel.
Speakers:
- Oceana James
- Helina Metaferia
- Michelle Eistrup
- Selene Wendt, (Moderator) 聽2022/23 EADJ Curator, Founder, The Global Art Project
Episode 11: Through the Lens of Social Justice
Episode 11: Wednesday, March 22, 10:00 AM CST
This panel focuses specifically on photography as a medium and brings together contemporary artists whose photographs signal a very conscious approach to the sociopolitical potential of photography. The panel will address both formal and conceptual aspects of photography, including Mark Sealy鈥檚 direct confrontation with the racist underpinnings of photography, Hew Locke鈥檚 and Ayana Jackson鈥檚 re-imaginings of history and historical figures, and Lee Jaffe鈥檚 and Basquiat鈥檚 collaborative works, many of which were photographs.
Speakers:
- Mark Sealy
- Lee Jaffe
- Tahila Mintz
- Ayana Jackson
- Makeda Best, (Moderator)