ART INSPIRING CHANGE — MORE JUSTICE — STRONGER ALLIANCES
Published Weekly (hopefully) December 5-11, 2022
"To be an artist, means never to avert one's eyes." Akira Kurosawa “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. Toni Morrison
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu
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"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu 〰️
Melinda d’Ouville
A racist joke by my father is a powerful memory. It was the 1950’s, I was in fifth grade. The punchline included a bus, a cliff, and dead people. I started to laugh, because it was my dad. I stopped. The joke wasn’t funny. Years of friendships, acquaintances and travel have given me an evolving perspective of our shared humanity. Through pieces of art I work to share my journey of appreciation for our humanness.
A Violent Collision by Melinda d’Ouville
Like many others, on May 25, 2020, I had my eyes opened to the horror suffered by people who for centuries have been saying “I can’t breath”. The tragic murder of George Floyd was, for me an insulated, aging, white female, a child of the 60’s - a violent collision of my beliefs, observations, opinions, and delusions. I thought we, humans, were doing better. I was wrong.
To understand the nature, significance and circumstances surrounding Mr. Floyd’s murder has been a struggle. Books have been read, videos have been watched, conversations have been held, groups have met, still the vacant expression I saw in the murderer's eyes remains puzzeling as well as excruciating for me. How did we get here; why aren’t more people angry; what keeps us from seeing how we enable or contribute to the oppression of people of color? Questions that continually scratch across the blackboard of my daily life since Mr. Floyd died.
Using my art to work through my confusion, I began by painting Mr. Floyd’s death scene. A visual representation of my coming to terms with the violence done to people of color. Images of anger are expressed in the reds, purples, and oranges used in the paintings. Wire mesh tacked to the painting represents the political and governing systems used to keep people of color essentially in an invisible, yet very real, prison. Splintered CD’s attached to the mesh are little mirrors to give viewers a chance to see themselves in the systems they enable that build bondage. Outlines of bodies, much like the police chalk used around victims, represent the enormous toll paid for keeping systemic abuses in place. A Violent Collision represents the anguish and despair of mothers, sisters, friends, and family awash in the blood of their loved ones as they suffer under a system designed to kill hope. I was very wrong. Is there going to be a “right”?
We welcome your artwork and hopefully publish as often as weekly, using a more streamlined editorial review and acceptance process. Submissions are posted in order by date received. We will maintain a maximum of six postings with the oldest postings available in past issues.
Dismantle the destructive influence of racism on the lives of Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
Artists educate, inspire and empower us to create a more just and compassionate future for all.
The arts are powerful tools to achieve social change.
By Paul Abramson
(This article is reprinted here by permission of the magazine Reason where it originally appeared. Here is the link to the original article)
In 1991 I was in Geneva serving as a technical advisor to the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS. We were chipping away at a task that seemed insurmountable: the exponential growth of the AIDS epidemic. But we knew our strategy—which relied on affordable condoms and clever advertising—could, at least theoretically, work. All we needed was user compliance.
The United States, however, wasn't pulling its weight, despite having plenty of money and technical expertise. Yes, the Centers for Disease Control was moving forward, publishing an article in 1981 about an opportunistic infection affecting immunosuppressed gay men. Four years later, an HIV antibody test was developed. By 1987, even Surgeon General C. Everett Koop had stepped up to the plate, urging that the nation's physicians recommend condom use for sexually active patients.