Testimonials from Artists for Social Change

TESTIMONIES FROM ARTSTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

All the Art asked artists to tell our readers what messages they hope to convey through their art practices; what makes them see their art practice as an effective way to communicate those messages and who they intend to reach. The responses were as varied as the colors available when blending primary paints.

Yvonne Osei:

As an artist with a socio-political conscience and a keen interest in intercontinental affairs, I am invested in creating visuals that articulate various issues relating to the human condition. My aim is for my work to transcend myself, to provoke an amalgamation of thoughts, historical accounts, points of view and multiple understandings of life.

My art practice is devoted to dissecting standards of beauty, the politics of clothing, colorism, complexities associated with global trade, and the residual implications of colonialism in post-colonial West Africa and Western cultures. Through my art, my hope is for viewers to decipher and question unilateral colonial narratives, to cultivate a boldness to challenge fragmented historical accounts, to reassess current power structures, and to dissect suppressive value systems that have taken a strong root in their respective societies.

I come from the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana, a culture where art functions synergistically with life. In this Kingdom, artifacts are used as extensions of human presence and existence, aiding in communicating specific messages to specific individuals at specific places and times. My reverence for the potency of art to convey multilayered, complex and intangible information with such beauty, simplicity and precision comes from witnessing the use of art in the Ashanti culture.

Yvonne Osei, Insidiuos III, Elmina Castle, Ghana, video still, (image courtesy of the artist)

In my own practice, I strive for opportunities to “activate” the public. In many cases, I see the act of viewership and the presence of an audience as a crucial part of the art process itself as it adds a conceptual layer to my work. I will often encourage passive viewers to transition to active participants or collaborators in my art, forming part of the DNA of the work and allowing for an in-depth understanding of my art practice.

As visual beings, the power of images function as a blessing and a curse in disguise. Through our sense of sight, we are quick to conclude that people and things are as simple as they physically seem. My role as an artist is to ensure that we tap into the reward that visuals bring by providing constant shifts in the way viewers see, and fostering a yearning for deeper observations into our world.

My work provides a platform for conversation geared towards bridging social gaps, echoing perspectives of the other, presenting viewpoints and historical accounts in the visual tongue of the colonized and the oppressed. My hope is for my art to usher in legible visual forms that bring new insights, comparative thoughts, and meaningful observations to various issues of global concern.

Sonia Slankard

Why not leave these houses to rot and die?

Why not divert your eye to the ground, the screen or anything in between so that we do not have to see the world around us crumble down, so we don’t have to acknowledge the painful truth, that we have been abandoned.

What does abandoned property mean?

Am I abandoned property? If I am surrounded by this despair, is there anybody out there, anyone who cares?

Along comes art, with a spark, with a bold craving for change, with an overwhelming desire to make a difference in whatever way possible.

To sooth the suffering with a splash of joy.

To redefine what goes through the mind, and that’s my role, as the artist, giving a gift of courage, given the spark of an idea, given the power to take action and make an idea come to life.

When I see a blank board, it is a canvas. If I see a flat surface, I want to paint on it. When I see a child anywhere in the world, I want them to not suffer, to not feel despair.

Put together a hopeless population and crumbling foundation and see how that affects the mental health of our children, and see how that affects the crime rate….This struggle is real. Sometimes art is the only thing we have that can shift our thoughts, shift out of pain to hope with an affirmation, and that is what I do, I paint affirmations and colorful patterns or characters so the viewer can internalize the content.

A lion, fierce green eyes, bold flowing mane, if you look closer words are hidden inside the details, up close: “I am strong,” “I am courageous.” and the message “never give up ever,” like a song verse that will stick inside your mind, a phrase you can repeat and share and gain a sense of resilience from.

I have infused each of the boards with love, knowing the viewer is kids on their way to school, anyone who lives on a street forgotten by time and neglected by the city

Sonia Slackard, Page Avenue boarded buildings, (photo credit: Sonia Slackard)

Dail Chambers:

Dail Chambers, Untitled, (image courtesy of the artist)

Dail Chambers, Untitled, (image courtesy of the artist)

My work brings up the questions of: “how close are we to nature?” and “relative to what?” I use my own narrative to creatively express genealogy, African diaspora, women’s traditions and the future.

How is my story a catalyst for change? How am I documenting the growth and work to bring about new conversations? In my work, material has meaning and the process is everything. Texture, color, light and the amounts of the objects has a special correlation in my installation aesthetic.

I make my work because I am interested in communicating with anyone who is interested in truly engaging.

Harry Wadlington:

Even though we call ourselves a democracy we do a lot of talking about who belongs and who doesn't. Through my art, I want to expose these types of deep contradictions between what we do and say. I want to agitate people and make them feel uncomfortable about their indifference to others' struggle. Like any other force, it is this social tension that gets us to move. Hopefully, people will began to change their framework of thinking and recognize that human dignity is universal. I'd like to see more of us share this intrinsic value and act on it in a way that challenges our government and institutions to do better.

I think it is just as important to show you care with art as it is to say you care. While the expression itself is therapeutic and introspective for me, ultimately, I want to commune with others through the imagery.

I also like to strike a more empathetic tone and speak directly to someone's struggle. I don't want to exploit their pain but rather uplift and encourage them. Recently, I collaborated on a piece that focused on immigration policy and its emotional and physical toll and it's direct impact on all of us. I hope I'm modeling for others that it's okay to tap into your humanity.

Harry Wadlington, Organizaer Naomi Carranza occupying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Downtown St Louis (images courtesy of the artist)

Harry Wadlington, Sherriese Dawkins (bottom right) (images courtesy of the artist)

Harry Wadlington, Wanda Brandon leads campaign to save Washington Park Cemetary in Berkeley, MO (images courtesy of the artist)

Alex Johnmeyer

From a young age, art was the way I expressed all that I experienced. I held tight to this personal mission to make my voice heard… to share my view, my lens, the way I saw the world. I always felt that art has the ability to reach everyone, that visual creative expression has the power to bridge the gap between any people, despite personal beliefs, language or life experiences.

Alex Johnmeyer, Wax Ecstatic, (image courtesy of the artist)

One of my favorite examples of this is my painting entitled, Ray (back cover image). On a spring day, my father in law asked if I wanted to join him “to check on the land” of his farm. I took my camera along and photographed the natural scenery I stumbled upon as we rode from one plot of land to the next. He had recently purchased the land of a nearby family, and had plans to farm it.

There was an abandoned house with an accompanying barn, and I dared not touch a thing, but captured some of my favorite photographs to this day. I was most inspired by the image of a dust-covered, rusty bike, leaning against the barn’s side wall, gazing longingly out the window as if it wished it could be riding along the countryside again… wind rushing by, to have another day in the sun. To me, this painting represents living one’s truth, having the courage to step into the light, and being a part of all the world has to offer.

As an adult, I finally discovered the words to express my identity. I identify as pansexual (being attracted to people regardless of their biological sex), and transgender (meaning I do not identify with the gender I was assigned at birth). Eight years ago, I had sincere hesitation to come out publicly as transgender, and was concerned that asking others to use my pronouns of they/them, would negatively affect my art career. However, I’ve been met with nothing but support from the St. Louis art community, and am proud to be visible as transgender, not only for myself, but for others like me.

The paintings I create are a vibrant translation of my world, an opportunity to capture a moment in time and share it with others. I am presently exploring the ideas of community diversity, childhood nostalgia and finding beauty in the broken. Through my art, I hope to express personal stories of love, joy and loss: the struggles and celebrations of life that most everyone can understand.

Elizabeth VegA

I am cofounder of Artivists STL and founder of ArtHouse. However, I am not a visual artist. Fellow artivists often don’t even let me do the lettering on banners! I’m that inept with a brush. I am more of a cultural organizer and conceptual artist. I started out as a community artist and a poet, so I had a sense of how art can create real change in individuals. Ferguson taught me that art can also transform cultural narratives. During the Ferguson Uprising I saw a need for people, especially children to make sense of what was happening. It was a lot to take in and often too big for words so we started doing pop-up art spaces in Canfield and other places and the impact on all involved kept us doing it.

This led to creative direct actions and this led to art builds and before I knew it I became a cultural organizer who had developed a social justice art practice. Now mind you, five years ago, I didn’t even know what an art build was or that there were activists who specialized in cultural organizing. I learned through prolific action because for a while we were doing creative direct actions and making several banners a week. I also learned more through meeting folks from Oakland and New York where this kind of work has been happening for some time.

Though I am relatively new to this, I believe that social justice art-- the music, poetry, visual arts and sacred rituals are the heartbeat of a movement. It is a reminder that what we are fighting for—our human right to dream, create and live in dignity is always stronger than the racism, hate and oppression we are fighting against.

Viktor Frankel, a holocaust survivor once said, “Despair is suffering without meaning.” I believe art has a way of cutting through complexities and revealing the heart of an issue. When it is done in collaboration and in community through an art build it becomes even more powerful because at that moment we are becoming the change we seek. We are working through our despair and suffering. We are collaborating and bringing forth both our ideas and vulnerability. Together we are creating something of beauty and meaning. And once you start to conceptualize and create a banner or an art prop, it is easier to visualize working together to create a different world.

ALLTHEARTSTL.COM WINTER 2018/19 COMMENTARY