Inspirations
"Free" is Etymologically related to "Friend"
Posted May 15, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
I recently went to Southpaw in Brooklyn for an incredible Hip-Hop show. The line up was Sabreena da Witch, hip-hop artists and activists Rebel Diaz, and DAM. The venue was packed and totally enthused by the music and atmosphere. Each group was super charismatic and very dynamic, and all with a political conscious and common demand, the end of the Israeli Occupation.
DAM is:
"the first and leading Palestinian Hip-Hop group" whose music is " unique fusion of East & West, combining Arabic percussion rhythms Middle Eastern melodies and urban Hip-Hop." Their lyrics are influenced by "the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict...the struggle for Palestinian struggle for freedom and equality. They Also draw their influence from such controversial issues as terrorism, drugs, and women's rights"
This was, fortunately, my second time seeing them perform live. I am reminded of how much music creates community from both of the events. I once had a friend say something to the effect of "Think of the musical "scene" you're involved in", at the time I was very much a krusty-travel punk, "would you like that to be a reflection of the greater community/society that you hope to create?" I still consider myself a punk, and admit the shortcomings of that community, and have to say that the event at Southpaw is definately a reflection of community I hope to aspire to create. It brought together a number of old friends of mine that are some of the most motivated artists and activists I know, and we were congregating to celebrate independent & resistance culture, and to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. I left feeling really positive and motivated, despite needing to wake up at 6 am for work the next day!
photos by AnomalousIf you are in Toronto you have the opportunity of seeing them perform tonight
Hip Hop Against Apartheid: the Refugees will Return With INVINCIBLE
May 15
at El Mocambo
8pm
And if you're in NYC there will be a demo commemorating the Nakba
Friday, May 16, 1-4PM
Dag Hammarskj Plaza
47th St. btn 1st & 2nd Ave
To support DAM and get their music check out their "store"
I've also posted some DAM & Rebel Diaz videos below for those that are curious.
Thanks to everyone that attended the other night!
fierce pussy show at Printed Matter Inc.
Posted May 10, 2008 by molly_fair in Events
Printed Matter Inc.
195 Tenth Avenue, NYC
April 5–May 24, 2008
fierce pussy was a New York–based collective of queer women that emerged in 1991 from the ferment spawned by ACT UP. Promoting lesbian visibility and self-defined identity, fierce pussy helped politicize the urban landscape by wheat-pasting posters, distributing stickers and T-shirts, and "renaming" a number of New York streets after lesbian heroines.Their low-tech aesthetic is exemplified by photocopied posters, which have been reissued in a book published by Printed Matter and are exhibited there above vitrines of related ephemera. Members' childhood snapshots are emblazoned with words like MUFFDIVER and DYKE; the phrase LESBIAN CHIC MY ASS is illustrated with a bathroom-stall-worthy rendering of an ass followed by the words FUCK 15 MINUTES OF FAME. WE DEMAND OUR CIVIL RIGHTS. NOW. Contemporaneous groups such as Queer Nation, Dyke Action Machine, and the aforementioned ACT UP pioneered an activist appropriation of the slick language of advertising, taking a cue from Situationist détournement and the work of Barbara Kruger. fierce pussy's posters share aesthetic kinship with the more punkish 1979 publication Durhing Durhing by Joseph Wolman (founder, with Guy Debord, of the Letterist International), in which random faces are overprinted with Marxist-inflected words.
This kind of contextualization, however, distances the work from the queer bodies that made it, and queer bodies are still not visible enough. Riding that wave of lesbian chic, The L Word now epitomizes self-defined lesbian (with little mention of gender-queer or trans) identity. fierce pussy's book, the most vital part of the exhibition, opens with reprints of three nearly twenty-year-old posters comprising a more diverse spectrum of identities, among them dyke, butch, pervert, femme, feminist, and queer. The pages are detachable and reconfigurable. Just add wheat paste. —Amoreen Armetta
Some Thoughts on Election '08
Posted May 8, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Throw Seed Bombs!
Posted May 8, 2008 by molly_fair in Inspirations
The weather is feeling mighty nice these days, and it's the perfect time to start gardening if you haven't already. In honor of springtime, I want to share an abridged history of the seed bomb, or grenade, or ball- anyway it goes by many names and is basically a simple way of sowing indigenous plants by making small balls consisting of dried clay powder, compost, seeds, and water.
Many people credit the founders of the Green Guerrillas in NYC who threw seed bombs in vacant and abandoned lots in the 1970's. They additionally cleaned out the lots and started community gardens which inspired numerous guerrilla gardening projects today.
The origins of the seed bomb is actually an ancient technique in Japan called Tsuchi Dango translated as Earth Dumpling. Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese microbiologist and soil scientist specializing in agricultural science reintroduced the custom in 1938. He is a pioneer of sustainable agriculture and an advocate of biodiversity. He initiated the "natural farming" philosophy and "one straw revolution", a farming technique that does not require weeding, pesticide, fertilizer, or tilling- going beyond a scientific and organic approach.
There are many recipes out there, and here is one of them:
Combine 2 parts indigenous seeds with 3 parts compost.
Stir in 5 parts powdered red or brown clay.
Moisten with water until mixture is damp enough to mold into balls.
Pinch off a penny-sized piece of the clay mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands until it forms a tight ball (1 inch in diameter).
Set the balls on newspaper and allow to dry for 24 - 48 hours. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to sow.
and here is the original Green Guerrilla's recipe:
"If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork." - Masanobu Fukuoka
"Atenco Somos Todas" Action in Madrid
Posted May 4, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
A collective in Madrid, called Atenco Somos Todos, held an action in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reminding the Spanish government and the rest of the world of the police repression and torture that occurred 2 years ago today. Following is their communication:
Building something outta nuthin'
Posted April 28, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Like I said in the earlier post, we've been busy building over at Ad-Hoc Art the last few days. Things are coming together and all the scavenged materials are beginning to take form as structures as opposed to piles on the floor. I'm really excited with a bunch of the images taken so far, yet am only going to give you this taste for the next few hours while I whip up another batch. Check in a little later for more!
Photos taken by Kevin Caplicki
Collaboration at Mass MoCA
Posted April 27, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
I recently spent three weeks collaborating with 15 other people from the Miss Rockaway Armada on a "mezzanine" hallway at Mass MoCA. The project was really fun, and I'm proud of the product. The Armada was given a space that is used by student groups, visiting the museum, to eat meals. So instead of creating an installation that documented the journey down the Mississippi RIver, or designing a cafe,
On April 1, 2008 members of the Armada gathered in North Adams to build again for three weeks. The group worked together to sculpt this space, each member contributed individual projects to the overall design. It is a place where you, our visitors, can gather, play, eat, look, touch, and explore
Working with such a large group of people, formulating everything from the theme, to aesthetics, to functions, to well, everything, was, at times, a little bit frustrating. It was also the impossible ideas and dreaming that brought us in to the space to begin with. So the "off the top of the head" ideas were considered, and eventually incorporated into the installation, caves, tunnels, space ships... It was that kind of imagination with the skills of everyone involved that helped manifest our installation.
Walking thru the space you'll find two platforms that provide seating and eating space for around 25 people, our only "restrictions". We scrapped, scavenged and pilfered, 98% of the materials used for the installation from surrounding towns, yards, and MassMoCA's compound of buildings, where old installations are stored. Tables were made from Bavarian milled lumber floated over the Atlantic for other artists structures, and stools made from hacked up bike frames or desks. We were given such a small budget to work with and used our resourcefulness and heads to come up with something that we hope you get the opportunity to experience in real life. There are so many things to interact with, beyond brown bagging it, a marionette puppet, secret rooms, a "space ship" to listen to Rockaway Radio(clock radio's playing a radio stream transmitted in the space), a "story mill" to type out your wishes on an old Royal typewriter(strange thought, it will be the first time some children will see a typewriter), and walls full of "advent" calender-esque shrines, doors, windows, and diorama's to open, close, look thru, and be inspired by.
Following is a video walk-thru shot by SuckaPants Tod's camera and see the "thing" we made!
Photos taken by Tod Seelie Check out a whole Gallery of images of the installation at Everyday I Live
Check out-Antlered Girl or BlueCinema for more flicks
I was over at Flickr
Posted April 22, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
I was checking out our Flickr account today and decided to look at some of my favorite flog's. My pal Anomolous takes incredible portraits, and is a voracious critic of US foreign policy. While looking over his, I came across a thread he began with a photo of Obama, and a piece by Paul Street, written right after Obama's "Race" Speech in Philadelphia.
I hope it reminds people about what it takes to be a presidential nominee, and stimulates the critical faculties in that organ inside their head, so we can get back to discussing how "we" really change power and our relationship to it.
Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth)
Posted April 10, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth)
Screening in Portland Oregon April 11th
7:00pm
at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.
In the summer of 2006, a broad-based, non-violent, popular uprising exploded in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some compared it to the Paris Commune, while others called it the first Latin American revolution of the 21st century.
But it was the people's use of the media that truly made history in Oaxaca.
A 90-minute documentary, A Little Bit of So Much Truth captures the unprecedented media phenomenon that emerged when tens of thousands of school teachers, housewives, indigenous communities, health workers, farmers, and students took 14 radio stations and one TV station into their own hands, using them to organize, mobilize, and ultimately defend their grassroots struggle for social, cultural, and economic justice.
(link to a trailer for the film)
Points of Interest in Braddock, Pa
Posted April 3, 2008 by mary_tremonte in Events
Points of Interest is a public art project instigated by Just Seeds member Swoon & her cohorts in Braddock Active Arts in Braddock, Pa (a steel town just outside of Pittsburgh). Just Seeds artists Swoon & Mary Tremonte, as well as 10 others, are making site-specific out-stallations at sites selected by Braddock youth.
Public events over the next week include a Swoon lecture at Carnegie Mellon University and Shake Your Money Maker, an all-ages danceparty. Read on for event details.
Indykids
Posted April 3, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
Indykids is a project I got really excited about a few years ago, when I was teaching at an after-school program. It can be a really good tool to use in classrooms to discuss current events, general media literacy, and a platform for alternative media.
IndyKids is a free newspaper and teaching tool that aims to inform children on current news and world events from a progressive perspective and to inspire a passion for social justice and learning. It is geared toward kids in grades 4 to 8 and high school English Language Learners. IndyKids is produced five times during the school year.
All the issues are available for download and there are some upcoming events in NYC to note.
Saturday, April 5: Tabling at the “Creating Balance in an Unjust World” math conference in Brooklyn. We’ll talk with educators at the conference and hand out copies of IndyKids.
Monday, April 14: IndyKids brainstorming for the summer ’08 issue at the NYC Incymedia Office, 4 W 43rd St, rm 311
Wednesday, April 23: IndyKids editing meeting 7-9pm at the Indymedia office
Saturday, April 26: Tabling at the Brooklyn Peace Fair in downtown Brooklyn. We’ll talk with fair-goers and hand out copies of IndyKids.
If you're interested in getting involved with any of the above events write to indykids@indymedia.org
Zapatismo In NYC
Posted March 25, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
This week is full of events on Zapatismo.
The Forum on Urban Zapatismo where Movement for Justice in El Barrio will present the NYC film premiere of “NYC Encuentro for Dignity and Against Gentrification”
In October of 2007, people from 26 social justice groups from around the region gathered in the first-ever historic “NYC Encuentro for Dignity and Against Gentrification.” We invited groups from around the city who are fighting against gentrification from the ground up to come share who they are, what problems they face, who or what is their enemy and what are their dream. This film tells the story of what was said.
The event will be held
Wednesday, March 26th 7pm
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
And will also feature Gloria Muñoz Ramírez author of El Fuego y La Palabra, just recently published in English "The Fire and the Word". Gloria lived in Zapatista communities for 7 years, and will speak about the Zapatista resistance and history. Movement for Justice in El Barrio will share some of the ways in which they are inspired by this resistance and organize to achieve autonomy and self-determination by implementing urban Zapatismo here in NYC.
Free Tibet Demo in NYC & beyond
Posted March 24, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News
There have been a lot of activity around the current events in Tibet. A lot of actions focusing on the Olympics in China. One I came across today on the BBC newswire is about the disruption of the lighting of the torch in Greece. 
Even a few months back at "Where Have You Been?"
one story focused on a trip and action at the base camp of Mt Everest.
Recently, in NYC, there were reports of some aggression outside of the Chinese Consulate on 42nd street, leaving injured people and broken glass. People are demanding a stop to the killing in Tibet and a boycott of the upcoming Olympics in China.
This past weekend in NYC, a march passed thru Union Square. Here's some flicks I was able to snatch of the posters and banners. The messaging was really clear in their images and chants, and was a very moving experience as the thousand or so demonstrators moved thru the Union Square Greenmarket.
Imminent Disaster in Potosi, Bolivia
Posted March 24, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Potosí´s story is tragic. That´s what it says in the guidebooks for Bolivia. Mostly, though, that assessment is correct. Potosí is located at the southern part of the Altiplano at about 15,000 ft above sea level, making it purportedly the highest city in the world. It´s frigidly cold at night, its steep hills knock the breath out of you as you walk up the streets, a layer of dust from car exhaust and dirt roads seems to seep into the cracks of everything turning the city a dry and hazy beige. Tucked deep into the Andes, peaks jut out of the landscape as if they had just broken out from the earth below, the largest of which stands stoic and broad-shouldered, casting its shadow over the houses of Potosí gently sloping upwards towards its base. Unlike other mountain towns, the center of Potosí is not the valley, but halfway up the slope to Cerro Rico, as if the mountain had a magnetic lure pulling its people up close enough to be within its reach.
Local legend believes that Potosí´s history began when an Inca named Diego Huallpa went searching for an escaped llama in the mountains and stopped to start a fire. It supposedly increased so much in heat that the earth beneath it began to melt and molten silver began to seep out of the ground. When the Spanish learned of the wealth potentially buried beneath the Cerro in the year 1545, they immediately took action by founding Potosí at its base and beginning the excavation of the mountain. Thus began the period of nearly 500 years of exploitation of the mountain and its surrounding populations. In 1572, the Ley de la Mita was established by the Spanish Viceroy to provide a steady stream of labor into the intense and dangerous working conditions of the mine. The law obliged all indigenous men over the age of 18 to spend several years as slaves to the silver production for the Spanish treasury. If they lived through their period of servitude, they could return to their village, but the intense physical labor and toxic working conditions--inhaling fine mineral dust, prolonged contact with mercury and other deadly chemicals, periodic tunnel cave-ins and carbon monoxide contamination made it more likely that the miteros would die in the mine before returning home.
Because of the decimation of local populations as a result of the mita, the Spanish still desperate to maintain their output of silver began to force African slaves into the mines. It´s estimated that over the course of 3 centuries, 8 million miteros were killed in the mines. By the early 19th century, the output of the mine began to significantly decline, and compiled with looting during the wars for independence, Potosí´s boom began its stark decline.
As the mines silver deposits depleted, other minerals such as tin, zinc, lead and cadmium became the main mineral output of the mine. In the 1930´s, in reaction to the few "tin barons" that maintained control of the mines and exploited the workers, a few cooperatives of workers fought for autonomy and formed their own cooperatives.
Today the mine is owned by COMIBOL, a nationalized mining company, working in partnership with Franklin Mining Inc. (a U.S. based company) with hopes of modernizing the technology used to extract minerals from inside the mine. Tunnels are rented to the cooperatives for a 6% piece of their total output.
As of today, however, the labor of the 30 cooperatives working the mines is still intensely manual and the miners are still using techniques that essentially haven't changed in the past 500 years. These techniques depend entirely on the use of special chiseling tools, dynamite, human-powered rail carts and pulley systems to get the raw material out of the mine.
Imminent Disaster on Mujeres Creando
Posted March 11, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Our friend Imminent Disaster is back with her second installment of her travels in South America. Thanks to her and continue to have great experiences.
Mujeres Creando is a feminist organization in La Paz, Bolivia. Unlike other social projects in Bolivia, it is not run by an NGO nor affiliated with a church. It's run by a core group of Bolivian women and set up to be autogestionable-- they have a free day-care that´s supported by a restaurant, Internet café and hostel. They run classes at night on a variety of subjects including women in society and feminist law. They run a radio station in La Paz (Deseo 103.3 FM). They have a legal consultation office for women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse. They have published a few books: one, called Ninguna mujer nace para puta (No woman is born to be a whore) is based on a conversation between an Argentinean prostitute and one of the members of the organization, and calls out for readers to question a society that subjects thousands of women to exploitation through prostitution, and what this kind of exploitation means for the treatment of all women within society. They have done a few exhibitions in Bolivia and Argentina displaying powerful photos of women killed by domestic violence and images of prostitutes from the turn of the century police register in La Paz (a time where every prostitute had to have their photo on file in the police station with a record of personal information, activity with clients and results of compulsory vaginal exams.) They have organized protests in Bolivia and Argentina and provided support to women who were imprisoned for over a year after a protest in Buenos Aires. And they take to the streets with their actions and their graffiti.
In Ninguna mujer nace para puta they explain their belief that the streets are the single most transformative political space because it is the only place where you can establish a relationship "flesh-to-flesh" with society. For women, who have historically only been given domestic and private spaces for their own, they believe that taking over the street is the ideal forum for women's acts of rebellion to be shown and seen. At the core, their key word is rebellion: to destroy the role of a woman as silent and dependent in a society deeply entrenched with machismo. And the women of Mujeres Creando are doing it with the gut-wrenching frankness that probably hasn't been seen in the United States since the 1970´s.
Below are a few shots of the Mujeres Creando graffiti in La Paz. Some have links to more information when they refer to specific political events or figures.
"if Evo had a uterus, abortion would be legalized and nationalized"
"I baptize my abortion as redemption, the nun" "We give birth, we decide"
"I´m not an originator, i am an original"
Blanca Liliana was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a bar in La Paz while celebrating her birthday. Because it happened so suddenly, her friends almost didn't believe it happened and the bartender´s response was to tell the group to leave the bar. Blanca went to the police station to file a report, but it quickly became clear that because she had been drinking the courts would try to call the assault an act of consensual sex. After battling the Bolivian justice system for some time, Blanca finally had a "fair" trial, and the rapist was found and convicted.Full story in spanish
"Justice for Blanca, not for the rapist"
"i want to rebel" "i want to fall in love"
"i desire"
A few others that are worth reading:
"Un pene, cualquier pene, es siempre una miniatura."
A penis, any penis, is always a miniature.
"De Gennaro: Si la prostitucion es una trabajo, sindicalice tu pija y tu ano"
De Gennaro (founder of Central de Trabajadores Argentinos union in Buenos Aires): If prostitution was a job, I would have unionized your penis and your anus.
"Las putas aclaramos que ni Sanchez de Lozada, ni Sanchez Berzain, son hijos nuestros."
The whores (bitches) would like to clarify that neither Sanchez de Lozada (president of Bolivia ´93-´97 & ´02-´03, resigned, fled to U.S., wanted for genocide and other crimes) nor Sanchez Berzain (ex minister of government under Sanchez de Lozada), are sons of ours.
Imminent Disaster begins her journey in South America
Posted February 28, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
JSVR is happy to introduce to you a "guest" writer, Imminent Disaster. She is a NY-based artist traveling in South America and agreed that our blog would be a great place to write about her travels and projects throughout her trip abroad.
Imminent Disaster began her journey in February 2008, which will bring her through Bolivia, Peru and Chile, with the intention of using murals as means of dialogue for polemic issues affecting the cultures of these countries. Although the pieces themselves are one level of dialogue, the experiences leading up to them are perhaps even more revealing. This post documents a series of expereinces with poverty and violence in the Cusco area.
The following is an image of the first mural of her journey, the events leading up to it, and our first installment on Justseeds!
Where Have You Been?
Posted February 18, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
My favorite event in NYC is coming up this Wednesday!
Its not a art-theme party of ridiculous proportions, not a yearly shopping cart race, nor a dumpstered meal cooked by friendly folks and served for donations.
When I was a kid all I wanted to do was travel when I finished High School. I became very successful. I would circulate around the continent aevery few months in a seasonal cycle for years. Now even though I tell myself im settled, I've had 4 apartments in the first 2 years of living in Brooklyn. (I'm on number 5) I never found the best way to share my experiences with other people. No slick zine, slideshow, or lecture to share with my friends. Now there is Where Have you Been?
Where Have You Been is an event hosted by Jeff Stark, creator of the NonsenseNYC events list, he interviews three people about "travel, adventure, and activism in front of a curious audience." The travel stories have varied from freighthopping adventures across the USA to direct actions at the base camp of Mt Everest.
I started the show in 2006 because I wanted a place to share stories about what happens in the rest of the world. New York has a way of swallowing homecomings. We are a notoriously self-interested city; circle the globe and your friends just tell you what you missed. This show is a forum for intrepids to bring the world home and share it with the rest of us — travelers as well as those of us who don’t get out much.
Whenever I'm in town for this monthly event I'm always entertained. Most presentations are humorous and all that I've attended have exposed me to perspectives. How else am I going to know what the Hajj is like for a queer muslim from the States, or that there is a program in the UN to map natural disaster areas?
One of my favorites was learning about Ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between plants and people, from Nat Bletters. He recounted a trip to Peru where he researched local herbs and created an audio book to preserve the indigenous knowledge.
I have always found opportunities to engage more with the presenters in Q&A and potential future exchanges. Nat pointed me in the direction of some good books about the histories of vegetables, and Leonardo may post photographs of Venezuelan Murals here on the Justseeds blog!
The next Where Have You Been? is this Wednesday, February 20th 7-8:30pm
It will feature interviews with three intrepids: Jef Wolfy Scharf
investigates the toilets of Europe, Ida Benedetto and Tim Kantz team up with fair trade coffee farmers in Western Guatemala, and Anastasia Andino palled around Thailand with a monkey. Bonus: slides from a pauper’s cemetery in New Orleans.
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street, Manhattan
$5 sug donation
Some of the presentations have been audio-recorded, and available online. this is an aspect I wish would continue. I wish I could check out the ones I missed.
PICK UP THE MIC, BREAK DOWN THE WALLS!
Posted February 8, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
I'm full of events for y'all lately!
There is an incredible Hip-Hop show as the closing event for the Israeli Apartheid Week,
Sunday, February 10th
at Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St.
8:30 Poetry--Remi Kanazi, Climbing Poetree
9:30 Live Hip Hop-Sabreena Da Witch (Abeer),Invincible, Rebel Diaz
With DJ OJA spinning against apartheid all night!
Invincible is a really amazing artist/activist out of Detroit.
She is a politically conscious hip hop artist that organizes with Detroit Summer, doing youth organizing, and helps put together the Allied Media Conference. I was fortunate enough to see her perform at the 2007 AMC and encourage you to check her out, at the show or online.
The other folks I wanted to highlight are two people that I've wanted to write about for years. Alixa & Naima of Climbing Poetree have given some of the most intense performances and poetry I have experienced. They have made me cry and sent tingles down my spine with the words they use and the themes they write about. Their work ranges in topic from Neoliberal Policies to incarceration in the USA to love, all over an umbrella of struggle. These girls inspire me fully and I hope you too. They are embarking on a tour called Hurricane Season, that will kick off on the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, later this year. They are looking for help in organizing events and financial support. If you are interested and capable check out their website Climbing Poetree or watch their promo video to find out the details!
Friends at the Sundance Film Fest
Posted February 5, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Just to point your attention to some friends that were at the recent Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary Slingshot Hip-Hop a film about Palestinian hip-hop, was screened to numerous sold-out crowds, according to our pal over at ZapaGringo
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The film has been in the works for years and those in the NYC area can support it by headin out to a fundraiser for the documentary on Friday, Feb 8th, at the Knitting Factory.
Also out in Utah, hangin out with the Slingshot Hip-Hop crew, was the Graffiti Research Lab.
Check out the piece they put together
G.R.L. Reporting Live From Sundance from fi5e on Vimeo.
Both projects illustrate how elements of hip-hop are still tactics in resistance movements, despite the music industries commodification of aspects of the culture.
Lowell Naeve's Phantasies of a Prisoner
Posted February 1, 2008 by molly_fair in Inspirations
A few years ago I found a copy of the book Phantasies of a Prisoner, by Lowell Naeve. I've had a hard time finding information on Naeve, but fortunately his autobiography, A Field of Stones exists as a testament to his personal politicization. Naeve was initially imprisoned for being a resister to the draft during World War II. His book is filled with original poetry and black pen dreamscape images of miniscule figures traveling through endless deserts, standing or falling off the edges of cliffs, and wandering trapped in prison mazes or being chased by officials riding on giant ostrich like creatures. This is his blunt statement about the monotony of serving time.
Fantasy is the only true escape, revealed through images of birds flying over gates and walls, prison cells are giant flowers with views to the outside, and ladders squeezing through windows to carry people to freedom. The drawings were later published in Phantasies of a Prisoner in 1958- 14 years after he was released.
Racoon Collective
Posted January 28, 2008 by meredith_stern in Inspirations
Hey folks! Check out this collective based out of the Northwest!
It's called the Racoon Collective!
http://www.raccooncollective.blogspot.com/
The Raccoon Collective thinks highly of doing the following things: * Uniting the ARTS across Olympia in order to secure artist resources. * Supporting the DIY arts and radical arts projects by fostering networking in North Cascadia (PDX,OLY,SEA). * Getting artist of all mediums together to meet one another, collaborate, and skill share. * Supporting groups that work on social or environmental justice. * Collaborating with other collectives around the country with similar values.
Remarking on the walls of Oaxaca City
Posted January 26, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News
Last week there was an encuentro in Oaxaca that was attended by many organizations of the APPO (Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca) and others struggling for justice in southern Mexico. What follows is a demonstration held, demanding justice for political prisoners, many of whom showed leadership during the social uprising in 2006.
In spanish here.
Many artists have been involved with the recent social movement in Oaxaca, creating posters, graphics, imagery, and as seen in the above video, painting messages in the streets during demonstrations. Their markings leave an ephemeral, yet longer lasting, memory of the demands made during the protests. The slogans and demands painted on the walls remind the tourist heavy city of Oaxaca about the injustice the population faces.
Not only are demands for the freedom of political prisoners David Venegas and Isabel Almarez expressed, rescinding the bus fare increase, the profit of banks and frivolous businesses, and labeling police as assassins were also painted on appropriate targets.
Nancy Davies explains on NarcoNews
The range of protests includes: removing price increases for basic foods such as tortillas, and for gasoline; freeing political prisoners; returning the disappeared alive; canceling changes to the national social security institute (the ISSSTE); protecting streets in the center of the city; rescinding the increase in bus fares; and handing the schools still held by the breakaway teachers union Section 59 (promoted by governor Ulises Ruiz, who the teachers and APPO tried to force out of office in their 2006 uprising) back to Section 22.
The causes of the discontent and poverty in Oaxaca remain and so tourists passing by can expect to be reminded despite the "cosmetic changes" tried in the past.
Folks I hope will rub off on me
Posted January 14, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
I am blessed by a gigantic network of people that span the whole world, practically all continents included. There's even the Anti-Santa from Antarctica that once subletted my ro- (I dont live in a full room). Yet he totally trashed it left beer bottles under my bed, soiled my sheets, gave away all my records, never did the dishes, and moved onto the couch when I came back. Practically like most traveling oogles that end up crashing at your house. (I'm sorry to all whom I was that vagabond)
As for other folks I've been fortunate enough to meet, whose work I admire, have politics and compassion I have affinity for, there's Armsrock from Denmark,
and Basco in Santiago, Chile.
They are incredible people, both with their own perspectives on politics, and differing motivations for making street art. I only put them together in this post because of the impression they have made on me.
GIve em a look.
Photo taken by me, in Santiago, Chile
Alternatives to Spray Paint: Try Mud Stencils!
Posted December 29, 2007 by nicolas_lampert in Street Art / Graffiti
Milwaukee-based artist Jesse Graves created a number of mud stencils that he recently put up on sidewalks and the sides of buildings. Below is his “how-to-guide” and a link to his website with more images.
To avoid using toxic spray paint, I found a way to make mud stencils. Here is how you do it.
Materials: Mylar, X-Acto knife, tape, mud, sponge.
1. Design your stencil. Draw your stencil the size you want it, or design it on a computer and print it. Make sure you do not have islands (parts of an image that will fall out if you cut around them, like the middle of an O.) If you are using text, use a stencil font. If are using a computer print your design the size you want the stencil to be. If it is larger then 8X10 cut it apart in photo shop and print it in pieces, or enlarge it at a local copy store.
2. Cut it. Tape your design behind or in front of the transparent Mylar. Mylar is the same stuff used as transparencies for projectors, you can find a roll of it at art stores. Use the X-Acto knife to cut your deign out of the Mylar.
3. Get Mud. Find or make some mud. I mixed soil and water then beat it with a whisk. Make sure your mud is not watery. It should be about the same consistency as peanut butter.
4. Post it. Tape the stencil to whatever you want it on, it works on sidewalks or walls. If parts of the Mylar roll up put some tape under it. Then use the sponge to dab the mud on your stencil. Do not press too hard because if you squeeze muddy water out of the sponge it may sneak under the stencil.
5. Enjoy. Remove the tape on the outside of the stencil. Carefully remove the Mylar, and enjoy you non-toxic mud stencil.
This is still an experimental process. Post your comments, ideas, and pictures at http://mudstencils.wordpress.com/
People Cause Accidents
Posted May 29, 2007 by in Inspirations
About a week and a half ago I was sitting in my living room ogling over my bikes. I had just gotten home from my friend, Johnny's, house. He was generous enough to kick down some bike parts he had been collecting, and wasn't using. Sitting in front of an aluminum road frame I hope to build(if I ever make the time) I heard the screech of car tires.
There was a fwump! and a crash. I thought to myself "I hope that's just a car!" I ran to the window and leaned out over the fire escape to see a body laying in the street next to a BMX bike.
As many folks know, Visual Resistance started the NYC Ghost Bike project, so the first thing that flashed thru my head was, "holy shit, there's going to be a ghost bike in front of my house."
Impulsively I grabbed my camera, ran downstairs to document what happened. For me photographing an event like this comes from a sense that a "victim" may need visual documentation of injuries, location, license plates, police officer's identification, etc. It's less of the sick voyeur or objective documentor.
When I got outside there was already a crowd around the intersection and some people above the body on the ground. I still thought he was dead. Thankfully a bystander knew how to handle trauma situations and coordinated people until the ambulance came.
Coincidentally, waiting on the corner was a friend of the cyclist who had just been struck. The two were to meet up at this intersection and then go work on their bikes. Instead he took a car service to the emergency room where his friend, Shino, was treated for head injuries, broken bones, and gashes.
The driver, who thankfully stopped, was arrested for a suspended license. Its strange, for me, because I had empathy for him too. He was clearly remorsful and upset about what happened. When I was taking photographs, he was standing there too. He had seen the pool of blood below the cyclists head, the shoes that were ripped off his feet from impact, and the destroyed BMX bike. With all of my hatred and frustration with car culture, in this instance I couldn't blame this driver. I hold him accountable for being the cause of this accident. Although I wasn't as angry as I envision myself to react.
Drivers infuriate me. Cars parked in bike lanes, double parked on narrow streets, drivers distracted, talking on cellphones, aggressive maneuvers to go around other cars and cyclists, piss me off. Driving while intoxicated, and the deaths that have occured are unexcusable. What I'm conflicted with is how to hold people accountable. In accidents regarding bicyclists, the city government virtually ignores the rights of a cyclist. Rarely are motorists charged or convicted of wrongdoing. Sending people to jail, for accidents, doesn't appear to be a solution, to me, in most situtations. It may acknowledge the humanity of the particular cyclist, but not the greater attitude of motorists toward bikes.
One of the things I hope the Ghost Bike Project, with the memorial rides, is capable of doing, is create a greater consciousness of cyclists. Of the right to ride bikes on NYC streets, that they are entitled to space on the street. That motorists need to share that space, and the City needs to provide more infrastructure to ensure the safety of those that choose to ride a bicycle.
Off the soapbox now.
The day after getting out of the hospital, Shino called me. He heard that I had taken pictures and he'd like to get them. He wanted to write a story about the accident for his
Upon seeing him I couldn't help but think he was a ghost. His eye blood-red and a brace on his wrist. He was going for surgery the next day. I gave him the disc of fotos and told him I was grateful there was no need for a white bicycle at the intersection. He agreed.
You can check out his story "Life is Twisted" with the photos at Grindstate. The site layout may be a bit confusing for some, so fool around a bit. Its the first story up there.
Last, I want to ask everyone that drives a car, "look out for cyclists!"
Call for Art: Movimiento Por Justicia Del Barrio
Posted February 27, 2007 by in Political Art
This is an open call for artists to design logos for Movimiento Por Justicia Del Barrio, an immigrant-led social justice organization based in East Harlem. The group was founded in December of 2004 to organize resistance against the devastating effects of gentrification in their community. The immigrant base and leadership of their organization has led Movimiento Por Justicia Del Barrio to also address the pressing issue of immigrant rights. In 2005, their predominantly Mexican membership decided to become adherents to Zapatista’s Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and joined The Other Campaign, a national movement to change Mexico initiated by the Zapatistas. Since then, the group has facilitated a comprehensive Consulta Con El Barrio to invite popular community participation in developing strategy and focus for the struggle for community based justice.
Increasing attention and support from the public and the press has created a need for logos to represent their group. Movimiento Por Justicia Del Barrio is looking for two logos, one to represent the organizations local organizing efforts, including their fight against gentrification, and another to represent their transnational organizing as part of the Zapatista-initiated movement in Mexico, The Other Campaign.
If you are interested in making a submission for one or both of the logos, please email movementforjusticeinelbarrio@yahoo.com or call (212) 561-0555 for a few simple guidelines.
Responding to limited responses to their call, Movimiento Por Justicia Del Barrio is EXTENDING THEIR DEADLINE FOR SUBMITIONS.
Here is a more detailed call written by members of Movimiento Por Justicia del Barrio.
Open call to artists for the creation of the logos for our immigrant-led social justice organization!!
“BEST POWER TO THE PEOPLE MOVEMENT IN NYC”-VILLAGE VOICE ‘06
“IT IS REAL GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY, AND IT IS BEING PRACTICED BY THE IMMIGRANTS WHO LIVE IN EAST HARLEM”-DAILY NEWS ‘06
Who we are:
We are the color of the earth. We are women, men, youth and children of corn. We are immigrants. We have not lived in our home countries for a long time, but home is still the air we breathe, still the pulse of our heart, it is still the thought that fills our minds. We were born in our lands and our lands were born in us.
We are Movement for Justice in El Barrio, an organization of immigrants fighting for justice in East Harlem.
As immigrants, we were forced to leave our native countries because of a savage neoliberal economic system. Here in the U.S, we are affected by neoliberalism on a daily basis. Gentrification pushes us out of our homes in El Barrio. Exploitation at the workplace forces us to work twelve hours daily for poverty wages. Racist immigration policies attempt to criminalize and dehumanize us.
In New York, we fight against neoliberalism in all its forms. We fight against racism, xenophobia, sexism, classism, and homophobia.
We fight for humanity.
Movement for Justice in El Barrio is a rapidly expanding immigrant-led social justice organization led by immigrants in El Barrio (East Harlem, NYC). Founded in December 2004 to fight a voracious trend towards gentrification, Movement for Justice in El Barrio has received passionate support and attention from the public and the press and is in need of logos to represent the group!!!
As immigrants, our organizing is necessarily both local and transnational at the same time. In 2005, our predominantly Mexican membership made the decision to become adherents to Zapatista’s Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and joined The Other Campaign, a national movement to change Mexico initiated by the Zapatistas.
Therefore, we are looking for TWO LOGOS. One to represent our organizing around local issues here in El Barrio, including our fight against gentrification and greedy slumlords, and the city and financial institutions that facilitate the displacement of immigrant families from their homes and another to represent our transnational organizing as part of the Zapatista-initiated movement in Mexico, “The Other Campaign”.
If you are interested in making a submission for either one of the logos, or both, please email movementforjusticeinelbarrio@yahoo.com or call (212) 561-0555 for a few simple guidelines.
Shadow Theater Tour- Going Nowhere
Posted January 6, 2007 by in Events
Radical Artists Eric Ruin and Morgan Andrews come to NYC to perform their latest shadow puppet creations on January 9th, at Bluestockings Bookstore 172 Allen St and 10th at ABC No Rio 156 Rivington St where they will perform with Alixa & Naima of Climbing Poetree and Beth Nixon of Ramshackle Enterprises.
GOING NOWHERE, the debut shadow puppet collaboration between Erik Ruin and Morgan F.P. Andrews, journeys through a dozen short scenes framed within a question: "If you had to give up all of your senses, except one, which would you keep?" Things are not as they seem to be, with dissolving architecture, elusive mushrooms and spray-paint landscapes that refuse to stay still. A song from Three Penny Opera and stories by John Cage offer glimpses at the lives of undercover pirates, daydreaming butterflies, flag-burning patriots, and the linguistically tortured wife of a former New England mayor. Lovely soundtrack by Minneapolis duo Dreamland Faces, plus live music by local improvisers.
Erik and Morgan have been politically and creatively active in the various communities they have lived in over the years. I met erik when I stayed at his house in New Orleans during Mardi Gras years ago. I was inspired by his work and was glad to submit my own stencils to his zine Trouble in Mind. He has been active in every city he has lived in, as a member of the TrumbellPlex in Detroit, an organizer and contributor to so many projects like the Street Art Workers (SAW) poster project, and the upcoming Prison Poster Project. He's been the director of shadow puppetry for Barebones Productions' annual Halloween Extravaganza in St. Paul for the past two years, and is infamous for his papercut projections in Liberty Cabbage Theater's “An Olive on the Seder Plate.” Erik has performed at the Puppetropolis, Black Sheep Puppet Festival, and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals, and last year he pulled his show “How Can You Own?” around Europe in a bicycle cart. He recently co-edited the forthcoming book Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority (AK Press, 2007).
Morgan F.P. Andrews is a Philadelphia-based, Massachusetts-raised printmaker, puppeteer and electronic folk musician. He recently collaborated on a shadow puppet project with world-class juggler Sara Felder, and has toured dozens of puppet shows around North America and Brazil with his own Shoddy Puppet Company. Morgan curates an ongoing series of events called “Puppet Uprisings” in Philadelphia, and in 2006 co-organized the RadiCakaLacky Puppetry Convergence in North Carolina, and the Black Sheep Puppet Festival in Pittsburgh. Much of Morgan’s current dream-like puppet work dissolves the boundaries between performer and spectator, and employs random elements in its execution. Every year he takes a few weeks off to work with the Bread & Puppet Theater.
If you aren't in NYC you can catch these two "travelling via chinatown bus & regional transit lines- to a city near you?"
JANUARY PUPPET TOUR DATES
6th & 7th- Philadelphia - Puppet Uprising with the Missoula Oblongata at the Rotunda,
4012 Walnut St. 8pm
11th- Troy, NY - Teddy Bear Picnic, 51 3rd St. 7pm
13th- Montpelier,VT - Langdon Street Café, 4 Langdon St. 7pm
14th- Amherst, MA - Food For Thought Books, 105 N. Pleasant St. 5pm
15th- Providence, RI - with B. Shur at Building 16, 39 Manton Ave, 8pm
18th- Boston, MA- Infrasound, 7 Sherman St. #2X (at Sullivan Sq.)
19th & 20th- Portland, ME- Casco Bay Cabaret at Space, 538 Congress St. 7:30pm on the
19th. 1pm-on the 20th
23- 28 BALTIMORE/DC/RICHMOND/CHAPEL HILL- T.B.A.
Street Signs and Solar Ovens
Posted December 3, 2006 by in Political Art
Street Signs and Solar Ovens: Socialcraft in Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum
Curated by the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest
October 22 - December 31, 2006
An inspiring exhibition featuring artwork created with social activism as its inspiration is currently on view at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit explores inventive objects and strategies created by artists in response to the environmental, social, and political issues of our time. Featured works include protest art meant for public display as well as tools for socially conscious living.
Artists included in the exhibition:
Edith Abeyta, Steven Anderson, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Mike Blockstein, CARACEN, Chris Burnett, C.I.C.L.E., Code Pink, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Sandra de la Loza, Sam Durant, Eric Einem, Karl Erickson, Fallen Fruit, Finishing School, Gaian Mind, Fritz Haeg, Evan Holloway, L.A. Commons, Laura Howe, Karen Lofgren, Kelly Marie Martin, Matrushka, Jennifer Murphy, Nico of Teocintli, Christopher Nyerges, Path to Freedom, Sheila Pinkel, Oliver Ressler and David Thorne, Oscar Sanchez, The Arroyo Arts Collective, The Phantom Street Artist, The South Central Farm Support Committee, Christina Ulke, Votan, Allison Wiese.
The NAFTA Effect
Posted November 22, 2006 by in Inspirations
In October members of THINK AGAIN did some large-scale projections in Los Angeles for a project was called "The NAFTA Effect" organized by Outpost for Contemporary Art. THINK AGAIN's mobile projectors roamed the streets of Los Angeles after dark emblazoning giant projections on building facades. This project acknowledges the contribution and participation of immigrant laborers in the life of Los Angeles. On the level of policy, The NAFTA Effect highlights how international treaties like NAFTA, in concert with national anti-immigration efforts, reshape the ways that families live and work on both sides of the border as well as challenging the proposed 700-mile border fence, and the criminalization of undocumented workers.
To see a slide show, and for more information on the project visit: http://www.saltinthewound.org/
No Need For Sleep
Posted October 20, 2006 by in Political Art
No Need For Sleep is an exhibition of original art and zines by artists from around the country. This exhibition celebrates the artists, their independent productions, and the do-it-yourself culture of zine making. The exhibition will be up during the Madison Zine Fest in Madison, Wisconsin before moving on to Milwaukee in November. This exhibition is curated by Colin Matthes, for more information visit Ideas In Pictures.
The Exhibition includes work by:
Icky A.- Nosedive (Portland, OR)
Mike Ball- Clap Yr Hands (Philadelphia, PA)
Peter Burr- Bountiful Little Dudes, Hooliganship, Cartune Exprez (Portland, OR)
Mary Mack- The F-Word, Chick Pea, Not Quite Venice (Pittsburgh, PA)
Josh MacPhee- Stencil Pirates, Cut and Paint, Pound the Pavement (Troy, NY)
Polina Malikin- The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association (Milwaukee, WI)
Cristy C. Road- Indestructible (Brooklyn, NY)
Ally Reeves & Shaun Slifer- Ross Winn-Digging up a Tennessee Anarchist (Pittsburgh,PA)
Meredith Stern- Dragomen, Crude Noise, and Mine zines (Providence, RI)
Tea Krulos- Riverwurst Comics (Milwaukee, WI)
Other work will be included by:
Hot and Cold zine (Oakland, CA) & Street Art Workers.
Madison,WI Exhibit Information:
The 6th Floor Art Space is located at 455 Park St. in the Humanities Building of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The reception will run from 6-9pm the night of the Madison Zine Fest Saturday, October 21, 2006.
Milwauke, WI Exhibit Information:
Exhibition will be held at the Cream City Collectives Gallery located at the corner of Clarke and Fratney Sreet in Milwaukee 's Riverwest neighborhood. 732 E. Clarke St., Milwaukee, WI 53212
Opening reception: 6-11pm, Friday, November 17, 2006.
Gallery Hours are Mon-Sat 1 p.m. - 7 p.m. Sun 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
New York Banners Wave in Winds of Change, Demanding Justice for all Immigrants
Posted May 22, 2006 by in Artwork Needed
New Yorkers throughout this City’s diverse communities this morning awoke to messages calling for justice and equality for immigrants throughout the United States.
The messages, including “No Deportations”, “Legalization for All Immigrants”, “Rights for All Workers” among others, were painted on banners unfurled over prominent public sites throughout four boroughs.
The banners – penned in languages from English, Spanish, Korean, Urdu, Chinese and others - were dropped throughout the city in the early morning hours. Manhattan locations include 155th & Riverside Drive, 120th Street & FDR Drive, and Chinatown. Queens locations include the Queensboro Bridge and Jackson Heights and Brooklyn locations include the Prospect Expressway and the BQE.
With Bush's national televised speech on immigration reform on Monday, this action is designed as the people’s response and follows recent national protests, including one in NYC on May 1 that drew out hundreds of thousands of people.
This also comes within New York City's “National Week of Action” called to coincide with the Senate resuming Immigration Debates the same day of Bush’s immigration speech. Here is the press release for the national day of action.
Immigrants Demand Real Legalization & Reject Inhumane CompromisesAs the Senate reconvenes on Monday, May 15th for the last stretch of its immigration reform debate, immigrants in New York City will join thousands across the country in a National Week of Actions from May 14- May 20 to say "No Deal!" to a three tier legalization bill, guest worker programs, increased enforcement, and border walls. Immigrants warn the Senate against compromising our futures with the bill on the table which has drawn mass opposition for its attempt to split up immigrant families and increase criminalization through expedited deportation and indefinite detention. Instead grassroots coalitions of diverse immigrant organizations stand firm in saying that immigrants deserve no less than:
(1) Legalization for all immigrants; No guest-worker programs of work & leave
(2) Improved and faster family reunification opportunities for all;
(3) Enforce the protection of human and civil rights by reducing detention & deportation, ending collaboration between the DHS and public agencies, and ending deaths & abuses of migrants at the borders;
(4) Non-compliance with the REAL ID Act and the guarantee of equal access to driver's licenses for immigrants;
(5) Equal protection of labor rights of undocumented workers.
Also, check out our small, but hopefully growing, archive of immigrant's rights artwork. All pieces are available for download and free dissemination.
Refuse and Resist!
Posted May 19, 2006 by in Political Art
I found this in my inbox from the Clamor blog recap under the heading "New Counter-Recruitment Tool Featuring The Coup" first posted on May 11th. There is a link to a website about an upcoming film titled "Sir No Sir" that should be of interest to anyone doing anti-war and counter recruitment work. On the website you can view the trailer for the film and also see the short piece "Punk Ass Crusade" by the Ruckus Society featuring The Coup. Check it out!
El Otro Lado: People of Color in the U.S, the Zapatista Movement and Collective Struggles
Posted April 13, 2006 by in Posters
In 1994, the dawn of the North American Free Trade Agreement, indigenous peasants in Chiapas, Mexico took the world by storm by rising up in revolution. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional) emerged from the mountains and jungles to say NO to corporate globalization, neo-liberal colonialism, and the exploitation of indigenous people, women, the poor, and the oppressed. In 12 years, the EZLN has become a major voice in the international struggle against capitalism and neo-liberalism, and an inspiration and hope to struggles throughout the world.
Estacion Libre, a US based collective of People of Color, has been building with the Zapatista movement for over eight years. Through delegations to Zapatista communities, and a continued presence of a peoples space in Chiapas, hundreds of U.S. based community activists andorganizers from communities of color have visited, shared with, and learned from the Zapatista movement. These lessons are brought home - back to community struggles against gentrification, police brutality, incarceration, racism, sexism, homophobia, and economic exploition. By sharing tactics and dialogues with the Zapatistas, we strive to create sustainability throughout communities of resistance here in the U.S., with hopes that we can defeat the monster of capitalism and corporate globalization here, in the brain of the beast.
General Program
- Discussion on the Liberation Struggles of People of Color and intersections with the Zapatista Movement (Ashanti Alston)
- Reflections on the Zapatista Movement, the Sixth Declaration, and What Solidarity Means for US Estacion Libre (Mixpe, Olmeca, etc.)
- Arts and Activism workshops (Spiritchild, Olmeca, Mixpe, etc.)
- Performance by Mental Notes and Olmeca
Tour Calendar
Tuesday, April 18th: Ashanti at Rethinking Solidarity, NYC, Brecht Forum, 7:30pm.
Thursday, April 20th: UMASS, Amherst.
Saturday, April 22nd: Philadelphia, LAVA (4134 Lancaster Ave.), 12 noon.
Saturday, April 22nd: Estacion Libre fundraiser in East Harlem, 9:30 pm.
Monday, April 24th: Smith College. Workshops at noon and 4pm. Performance at night.
Wednesday, April 26th: Rethinking Solidarity, NYC, Blue Stockings Bookstore, 7pm.
Thursday, April 27th: Brown University, Third World Center, Informal Lounge (68 Brown St.), 9pm -12am.
The first image above was created by Gina Szeto. The second image was created by Canek Pena-Vargas. Both are available to download and edit as needed to promote the tour.
Bios for Event Participants:
Ashanti
Ashanti Alston has devoted his life to struggling against racism and
oppression, and to building and participating in multigenerational,
multiracial, grassroots movements of resistance. Born in Plainfield, NJ in
1954, Ashanti saw and experienced what most black youth did then and still
see today: poor-quality housing, unemployment and lack of job
opportunities, and schools that squelched students desire to learn. He
became politicized at an early age and was one of the founding members of
the Plainfield, NJ chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was also a
member of the Black Liberation Army.
Through intensive studying with the Panthers, Ashanti began a career in
self-teaching, popular education, and grassroots organizing through direct
engagement with people about their experiences. He has continued this work
during the 12 years he spent as a political prisoner, and living in
Brooklyn in the years since his release. Through published writing, formal
teaching jobs, participation in conferences and lectures, and membership
in grassroots organizations, Ashanti has developed his scholarship and
shared his critical analysis with young and old organizers, activists, and
students around the country. He has spoken throughout North America on the
past, present, and future of liberation struggles and the role of
community.
Ashanti has served as the Northeast Regional Coordinator for Critical
Resistance, a national organization working for the abolition of the
prison-industrial complex. Currently, Ashanti is a member of Estacion
Libre, a National people of color collective inspired by and in dialogue
with the Zapatista movement of Chiapas Mexico. Ashanti is also a board
member for the Institute for Anarchist Studies. He authors the zine
Anarchist Panther.
Jo Anna Mixpe Ley
Poet, storyteller, popular educator, artist, dancer, spiritual advisor to
the stars, and revolutionary warrior Mixpe has been a lecturer in
Chican@ Studies at UCLA, and a teacher of culturally empowering,
politically inspiring words and movements to young people throughout Los
Angeles and the Western Hemisphere. She is currently one of the
co-coordinators for Estacion Libre in Chiapas Mexico - whose objective is
to open a space of dialogue between people of color struggles in the U.S.
and the Zapatista communities.
In her time in Chiapas, Mixpe has covered the political situation through
written and radio commentary, documenting activities of the military and
policing during the Red Alert. She has built relationships with the
autonomous Zapatista communities and shared art, music, movement, and
struggles. Recently, Mixpe has served as a support for the Otra Campana of
the Zapatista movement, and has coordinated the first delegation between
U.S. based Women of Color activists and the revolutionary women of the
Zapatista movement.
Through her work, she struggles for continued solidarity with autonomous
communities, collectives, and minds. Her poetry and prose engages
narratives and oral histories of borders, the colonization and liberation
of bodies, always connected to the experiences of her communities and her
families. She can breakdown the intersection of racism, classism, sexism
and homophobia inside and outside of movements, without breaking you in
the process.
Olmeca
Artist, teacher, organizer, vagabond, traveler, and revolutionary - Olmeca
has been the co-coordinator of Estacion Libre in Chiapas, Mexico since May
2005. During his time in Chiapas, Olmeca worked with Zapatista communities
reporting on military and police incursions during the summer 2005 Red
Alert, teaching arts and skill sharing workshops, sharing the struggles
of People of Color in the US with Zapatista communities, and supporting
and observing the discussions around the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon
Jungle and the Otra Campana of the EZLN.
In the occupied territory of the United States, Olmeca is a driving force
in the fusion of music and community organizing. He worked to establish
APC the Autonomous Peoples Collective a collective of community
organizers. Artists, and musicians in East LA, and has engaged with
countless grassroots struggles for community liberation through his voice
and his music, including the Coalition of Imokalee Workers.
Olmeca is a 7-year veteran in the Los Angeles music scene. Olmeca's unique
lyrical style, bilingual rapping skills and unique song writing, has
gained the respect of his peers. He has rocked the mic with the legends of
the LA underground Hip-Hop scene (Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude and
Living Legends) as well as the greats from the Latin Alternative scene,
(Roco from Maldita Vecindad, Fidel Nadal and others).
His redefining and all encompassing song writing skills contain a focused
and undaunted political and cultural message. This calls for the decoding
of genres in music and, with that, the media and the system all together.
Unwilling to separate art with politics, Olmeca has contributed to many
grassroots movements as a participant, organizer and artist. Because of
this, his music has come to be known as, musica de los pobres or peoples
music. Olmeca calls for the niñ@s de la tierra to not only become
critical of
the system, but also to begin the process of deconstruction through
reflection and action.
His album, Semillas Rebeldes will be released in March 2006 by Nomadic
Sound System.
Spiritchild
Spiritchild, a member of Escation Libre and the Movement in Motion Artists
and Activists Collective was born in Harlem and raised in The Bronx. He is
a founder of Mental Notes - a Hip-Hop Jam Band. Mental Notes has gained a
reputation as a new innovative sound throughout the New York City Night
Club Scene and has performed at such legendary venues as CBGBs, Knitting
Factory and Nuyorican Poets Café. For Spiritchild, Mental Notes is not
just a Hip-Hop Jam band that creates music, it is an outlet for political
expression.
During the Anti-War Movement that was re-ignited after September 11, 2001,
Spiritchild collaborated with artists, activists, and students to
establish Movement In Motion Arts Collective - a creative drive in the
struggle for peace, justice and social awareness. In the name of
information, Movement in Motion offers energy and rhythm to the global
peace movement. Prompted by the present threat to civil liberties, they
formulate creative spaces in NYC to share alternative news and information
and by supporting other networks of informed activists. They fight for our
constitutional right to rally and protest. Most importantly, they come out
to help like-minded people dance. Members of Movement in Motion have
traveled to Venezuela, India, Palestine, Mexico, and South Africa to build
music and movement with struggles around the globe.
Spiritchild has also been active in exposing and educating the youth
through Hip-Hop. As a youth educator, Spirichild has worked with kids
throughout New York, teaching them the fundamentals of music, writing and
how to Rap.
Ghost Cycles in Seattle
Posted September 8, 2005 by in Inspirations
Upon returning home to Seattle, our friend came across two ghost bicycles on her ride home from the airport. It turns out there is an amazing group called GhostCycle.org which has been collecting data on car-related bicycle accidents in Seattle since May 26, 2005. Cyclists all across Seattle submitted info on 103 incidents where a moving vehicle had struck them. On August 1, 2005 they installed 40 ghost cycles with plaques reading "CYCLIST STRUCK HERE" where the most numerous and most severe accidents have taken place.
The most powerful aspect of the project is the testimonials from cyclists who survived their accidents. Perhaps sharing the details of these experiences will help identify areas that need to be improved so that the roads will be safer for everyone.
A map on the site shows the locations of the 40 ghost cycles as well as photos of each installation. The site features statistics based on information sent to the site such as percentages of bikers who reported their accidents to the authorities, were obeying traffic laws at the time of the accident, were wearing helmets and using lights when they were struck, and accidents that were hit and runs. The links are also extensive and include bicycle advocacy groups, lawyers, clubs, and memorials to other fallen cyclists. This group is truly an inspiration.
Related: VR's own Ghost Bike Project.
Beehive Collective visits NYC
Posted May 17, 2005 by in Events
A few weeks ago the Beehive Collective visited NYC. They were invited to Washington Square Park during the May Day weekend when the New World in Our Hearts Conference was happening. The Beehive members gave a narrative explanation of their Plan Colombia poster, after unfurling it out on the bricks of the park, in front the large crowd that assembled.
The Beehive Collective is a group of artists that create graphic posters about the intense web of effects from corporate globalization, the resistance in culture and the impacts of deregulation. The "bees" also create elaborate stone mosaic murals, one being created for MOFGA, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, about agriculture and biodiversity.
The Beehive's Biodevastation poster was the first image of theirs I came across, in 2000. And ever since I have been amazed by their capability of representing the different aspects of globalization, in sort of a "food-web" poster mural, creating posters on the Free Trade Area of the Americas(F.T.A.A), the Latin American Solidarity Network, and currently the Plan Puebla Panama.They have traveled all over the Western hemisphere (North and South) gathering first-hand accounts from people most directly affected by these political and economic initiatives to place them in their imagery. And they do not forget to include the social movements and resistance amidst all of these overwhelming issues. Being sensitive to forms of cultural appropriation they are committed to using animal and insect metaphors to represent the struggles going on around the world. Which works out very well when they are doing "field research." I can remember a few different stories told to me by a "bee" about traveling in Colombia and Mexico, where indigenous communities would tell them about the different symbolic meanings that the regional creatures have for them. These aspects have been worked into the imagery and allow for the representation of ethnicity and culture without being "racial."
This is a super busy group of folks, and its necessary to note that they have distributed tens of thousands of posters and given hundreds of "narrative picture-lectures" thru grassroots and independant organizing! They are always looking for a hand in disseminating the fruits of their labor and for help with their various projects, so contact them through their website or email: pollinators(at)beehivecollective.org
If you happen to be in Maine in August visit the Collective's "beehive" for their ceremony celebrating the completion of renovations on their, soon-to-be, 100 year old Grange hall!
Wobblies!
Posted April 9, 2005 by in Inspirations
The long-awaited Wobblies! is finally here, and it's even better than I could have expected. It's easily the best recent book on the connection between art and radical politics, not only because of the history it explores, but also by the sheer force of its example.
Co-edited by Nicole Schulman, the book is a collection of comics and very short essays on the history and spirit of the Industrial Workers of the World. Featuring new work by Nicole, Peter Kuper, Josh MacPhee, Fly, Mac McGill, Ryan Inzana, Sabrina Jones, Sue Coe, Seth Tobocman, and many, many more, as well as Wobbly classics from Carlos Cortez, Ralph Chaplin, and Joe Hill, the book is a remarkable testament to the living spirit of the IWW and its remarkable influence. From the introduction:
[Their] way of looking at freedom makes the IWW seem like a lot more than a labor organization, or bigger than all the other labor organizations combined. It looks, for instance, like the grassroots of the ecological/environmental movement. It looks like the Mexicans and Americans who welcomed the Zapatistas taking back the land that had been stolen from their people. It looks like every antiwar movement. It even looks a little like the world John Lennon summed up in the song "Imagine": no distant god, no country, just us humans, all of us, and our world.
Unlike most books on the subject, Wobblies! doesn't end on a tragic note --- on the contrary, it makes a uniquely convincing case that the IWW lives on, not as some shadow of past greatness, but as a subterranean source of inspiration, a model of joyous, liberatory radicalism. The pieces on 60s comix, surrealism, and Judi Bari, weave threads between seemingly disconnected miracles of history.
The highlight for me is the final essay, The Art and Music of the IWW:
The IWW... was no organization of trained artists.... Yet it inspired dozens of talented artists, before 1920 some of the nation's most experimental and talented, and the IWW generated its own fabulous "school" of cartoonists. Next to songs, cartoons probably brought more workers around that any other expression of Wob creativity.... These rank-and-file artists appear to have received little or no pay for their work, choosing to go "on the bum" with their fellow Wobs, organize where possible, and take odd jobs to stay alive. Some of them signed their art only with the "red card number" on their Wobbly ID, or didn't sign cartoons at all....We look back upon the Wobbly cartoonists, then, as we do upon the Ash Can art of the Masses magazine: a century ahead of their time in their discoveries, but just ripe for our time --- not to copy but to learn and grow from, amid the tasks of art and revolution ahead.
I'm posting this in the category "Inspirations," because it is. For bringing together some of my favorite artists to do unique and necessary work, and for bringing a new focus to the legacy of the IWW itself, I can't recommend this book highly enough. I would like to feature further looks at the book in the next few weeks. In the meantime, support the artists who made it happen, and do yourself a favor: get it.
Carlos Cortez Presente!
Posted February 25, 2005 by in Inspirations
Carlos Cortez --- artist, printmaker, poet, Wobbly --- passed away last month in Chicago at the age of 81. From the Center for the Study of Political Graphics:
Carlos Cortez was an extraordinary artist, poet, printmaker, photographer, songwriter and lifelong political activist. His mother was a German socialist pacifist, and his father was a Mexican Indian organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies. Carlos was a Wobblie until he died. He spent two years in prison for refusing to “shoot at fellow draftees” during World War II.After his release, Carlos took a series of jobs: in construction, in a small imported foods shop, in a chemical factory. He also started drawing cartoons in 1948 for the Industrial Worker, the IWW newspaper, but soon learned to do linoleum block prints. “Many radical papers --- not having advertising, grants or angels who are rich radicals --- operate on the brink of bankruptcy. So Industrial Worker couldn’t afford to make electric plates out of line drawings. I saw that one of the old-timers was doing linoleum blocks and sending them in because the paper was being printed on a flatbed press. I started doing the same thing, and each issue would have one of my linocuts.”
When the price of linoleum became too steep, Carlos started using wood. Used furniture was easy enough to find in any alley. “There’s a work of art waiting to be liberated inside every chunk of wood. I’m paying homage to the tree that was chopped down by making this piece of wood communicate something.”
In my mind, Cortez is a legend, and it saddens me that I only learned of his death today, after John Emerson posted a tribute at Social Design Notes. Carlos Cortez should be a household name in the political art world --- while never "famous," his influence is certainly widespread. Of course, he never sought fame,
“When you do a painting that’s it, it’s one of a kind. But when you do a graphic the amount of prints you can make from it is infinite. I made a provision in my estate, for whoever will take care of my blocks, that if any of my graphic works are selling for high prices immediate copies should be made to keep the price down.”
Compare his celebrations to Ricardo Flores Magon and Joe Hill, pictured above, and Lucy Parsons (below) to some of the work in the Celebrate People's History posters, for just one example. Cortez's influence will most likely also be apparent in the forthcoming graphic history of the IWW co-edited by Nicole Schulman which will feature a whole slew of World War 3 Illustrated artists.
For more on Carlos Cortez, check out:
--- Center for the Study of Political Graphics;
--- Rebel Graphics;
--- Drawing Resistance; and, especially:
--- Favianna Rodriguez's remembrance.
White Collar: early radical graphic novel now available online
Posted February 22, 2005 by in Inspirations
Milwaukee artist Brandon Bauer sends in an email: I just wanted to pass on this piece of radical political art history --- it's a book by the artist Giacomo Patri done in the 1930's called "White Collar". I have been searching for a copy of it for a long time and had only seen excerpts from it until recently. I think the last full published edition of the book was done in the mid-70's.... Check it out! ---Brandon
The whole book has been put online by San Francisco State University library to accompany the book The Art of California Labor. From their description of White Collar:
White Collar is a novel in linocuts by Giacomo Patri portraying the injustices of workers during the Depression. There are 128 prints in this unique visualization of the daily life hardships of a middle class family through the 1930s.Unfolding in stark, monochromatic pictures with no text, his novel recounts the experiences of an artist in the years after the 1929 stock market crash.
Unable to find work with advertising agencies, the novel's protagonist loses his house just as his wife informs him that she is pregnant. He soon learns that he shares much with blue collar workers and, like them, can benefit from union organizing.
Largely undiscovered, because the images of class struggle, unionization, and abortion were controversial for their time; Patri was forced to print and publish White Collar privately in limited numbers. Even now, the copies that survive are few and far between.
The book in it's entirety can be viewed online here.
Mujeres Creando New Website
Posted February 17, 2005 by in Inspirations
A while back we posted some information about Mujeres Creando, an anarcha-feminist artists and activists collective based in La Paz, Bolivia. We mentioned how they had just come out with a new book, Mujeres Grafiteando. But, we didn't know how to get a copy. Well, I just got word that their book is available for purchase on their new website, www.mujerescreando.com
The new website features:
- a mission statement
- articles written about the group
- essays and manifestos
- an online magazine called Mama No Me lo dijo (Mother didn't tell me)
- an online store where you can order books and movies
- an open forum for dialgue
- an archive of their projects and actions
click here to check out our previous post on Mujeres Creando.
Mujeres Creando
Posted February 5, 2005 by in Inspirations
Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) is an Anarcha-Feminist Group based in La Paz, Bolivia. They are graffiti writers, film makers, radical activists and much much more.
Mujeres Creando just came out with a new book called Mujeres Grafiteando. I haven't been able to find this book any where. So, if anyone knows how to get ahold of a copy, let us know.
More pictures and a statement by one of the members of Mujeres Creando are featured on Indy Media Ecuador.
Bellow is an article about them that was featured in Quiet Rummors, An Anarcha-Feminist Reader.
Making Waves
Mujeres Creando interviewed by Katherine Ainger
OVERNIGHT, in beautiful handwriting, words appear on the walls of La Paz, the high-altitude capital of Bolivia. They speak truths Bolivian women won't say out loud. Deconstructing machismo, anti-gay prejudice and neoliberalism, Bolivian anarchofeminist group Mujeres Creando takes art back to the streets. Theirs is a politics of creativity, of interventions in everyday life. Tired of the traditional Left where, they say, 'everything was organized from top down, the women only served the tea or their role was a purely sexual one, or they were nothing more than secretaries,' three friends - Maria Galindo, Julieta Paredes and Monica Mendoza --- started Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) in 1992. Two are the only openly lesbian activists in Bolivia. At the time, they explain, there was little talk of feminism - a militant, radical feminism, a feminism of the streets, of everyday life.
'We decided on autonomy from political parties, NGOs, the state, hegemonic groups who wish to represent us. We don't want bosses, figureheads or exalted leaders. Nobody represents anybody else --- each woman represents herself.'
'We believe that how we relate to people in the street is the most important thing. We have a newspaper which we edit and sell ourselves, and creative street actions. We paint graffiti - las pintadas - this is one of the communicative forms that really gets through to people. It began as a criticism of what the Left is --- and the Right. It was our response to their painting in the streets saying "vote for so-and-so". They were affirmative or negative phrases, "no to the vote", "yes to this", "no to that". What we do instead is we appeal to poetry and creativity, to suggest ideas which aren't just "yes" or "no", "Left" or "Right".'
They have targeted all kinds of oppression from a feminist perspective --- racism, the dictatorship and debt