"When we see beauty we see hope"- Lily Yeh

Genocide Memorial Proposal- Lily Yeh

I met with Lily in a Cosi near Rittenhouse square on a cold Friday morning. We sat at a table near the floor to ceiling windows and began to speak about my expectations. Lily said that she might not be able to answer some of the questions and I explained that it was ok, they were just there for guidance if she did not naturally bring up things I wanted to touch on.

We began, as I always do with talking about where she grew up and her transition into public artwork. The whole time we were speaking, I kept seeing these beautiful yellow flowers in my head, made out of mosaics. The conversation was magical and inspiring. Lily's passion is infectious and it is easy to see why her art appears the way it does. For her, it all comes down to a level of authenticity. She needs to be true to herself and out of that comes the rest. She describes her work as coming out organically. Building a place for healing in Rwanda was what needed to be done. We spoke about the artist as a person who can open up possibilities. Through beauty we can create space, healing, and dialogue. She told me it comes from organizing yourself, and improving yourself-- taking the freedom to explore who you are and what that means through these different contexts.

For her, it is about the desire to solve social problems. The art comes out of listening. When I asked her about the significance of being a female and creating this work, she spoke to me about feminine energy. That the world needs women artists, that we bring the emotional, physical, mental care as well as the intuitive nature to the space.

After speaking with Lily, I was overcome with this sense of joy and possibility. Through talking with her, I could sense the effects that artwork can have transforming a blighted area, or a group that is dealing with immense pain. Her methods of taking what is broken and putting it back together through mosaics, is more than poetic, it is moving. She is a wonderful role model to have and I feel honored to have been able to absorb her kindness and wisdom.

Here is the group that Lily founded called Barefoot Artists. I came across Lily's work through learning about the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia. Check out the websites, and also watch the trailers for Lily's new documentary.

November already? A mix of jumbled notes- Mierle Ukeles Visit

Hosting my first dinner party tonight since the first was postponed due to Sandy.

If anyone is interested in helping out with disaster relief, Occupy Sandy is doing a great job.

Reading list that Bad at Sports posted for new years in January 2012: Reading List

Also if you get the podcast from itunes then you can download a very interesting interview with Shannon Jackson who wrote Social Works and will be at the performance (conference?) at Moma this weekend. The episode is 376, and should be released next week on their website. 

conference: How are we performing today?

I've been thinking recently about how much socially engaged art enters into my practice. Would I call myself a socially engaged artist? Surely that is what I am most interested in speaking about, but why? What does it really mean to work in the social sphere and can socially engaged art be effective. I just heard Shannon say in the podcast that it may not be the aesthetic vs. use but an exploration of truth or meaning. 

This past week has been overwhelming, a bit stressful, but overall incredible. On Thursday, I went to pick up Mierle Laderman Ukeles at 30th street station, for a lecture at temple. Immediately, she was asking questions about Tyler and the community arts program. As I tried to navigate Philadelphia traffic, I answered her as best I could. She was so inquisitive about how students were engaging with art at Tyler and what I was doing. I told her about my project and she was curious about the decision to describe it as mentoring sessions rather than interviews.  I explained how when I began learning about these practices, my own practice had yet to be formed (not to say it has been formed now), so these conversations were a way for me to contextualize my practice and to learn tactics and methods for dealing with a very difficult art form. 

She seemed interested in the prospect of doing one, but when we spoke more in depth about the projects I had been doing this semester she seemed to think that it might be time I stop looking at my mentors and begin to delve deep into my own art. This semester has been a very tough few months. I've been trying to balance academics, art, work, and research and have found that I don't nearly have enough time to do everything. I have managed to put together a series of works that I am interested in pursuing but I am constantly questioning my work. Part of this might be that I lack the support structure of other peers pursuing this type of art. I am researching collaborative environments and yet I come up alone. I know there are students at my university who are interested in community arts but it has been hard trying to bring people together. Hopefully, the dinner parties will provide a community of artists that can come together and support each other. 

Back to Mierle's visit--- She gave an incredible lecture at Temple Contemporary but unfortunately some of her projects were cut short by the time limit. The way she spoke was like one long poem, folding in quotes and reactions, descriptions and details. There was a great turn out for the event, people were leaning against the walls and sitting on the floor. After the lecture, I got to go to dinner with Mierle, the co-directors of the Community Arts program, the head of Temple Contemporary, and a few other wonderful people. Each brought an interesting conversation to the table about Mierle's practice but also about the state of socially engaged art at Temple and the state of Temple as a "public" institution. As a young artist, and well frankly as a person, it was such an honor to be able to sit in on that conversation and participate. 

In the morning on Friday, I picked Mierle up at her hotel and we drove through North Philadelphia on the way to campus. We stopped by where many of the students live, just west of Broad, so I could show her the area and a glimpse of the dynamic between students and residents. This also gave her some context for the breakfast conversation that Rob was holding at the Gallery. The breakfast was a chance for people all over campus to come together to discuss their role on campus as well as a chance for them to meet Mierle and ask her any questions that they had. It was a diverse group of people. From the head of facilities, to professors from the Art Ed department. There was a guy who headed a residency program that brings together artists and recycled material (RAIR,) a woman who was the head of the (no longer?) Woman's Studies Program, a graduate student who has been working with socially engaged art and maintenance, a documentary film maker, and the head of Temple Grounds. I just wish we had more time to speak. It was an incredible experience to have all of these people in one place. I even got to speak about my own practice and the type of work I have been exploring. One question that someone asked Mierle which I found to be kind of amazing, was, who were her supporters? As she went day in and day out to work with these Sanitation workers, who told her to keep going? She said that Hannah Wilke and Ana Mendieta told her to keep going. 

After breakfast, I drove Mierle over to the train station for her departure to New York. We said we would stay in touch. At a time when I feel often dismayed and disappointed by critiques and conversations in Tyler, it is nice to know that someone is pushing me forward. These women have opened a mental space for me to push boundaries, question, but most importantly stay genuine to what I believe.