The Art of Resistance

This month’s blog includes reflections from PARA members about art and its role in their lives, in resistance efforts, and in building a sense of community with others.

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As I've been watching the indescribable resistance by the people of Minneapolis, I've been touched particularly by the many ways that art has been used to mobilize and inspire and express outrage and passion for justice. Images of thousands of people coming together singing protest songs has sparked engagement by so many all across the country.  And so much poetry is emerging that is moving and empowering. And when I've gone to local rallies I've been amused and inspired by the creative and artistic messages on signs!

This is the power of art. Touching hearts, beyond the rational mind.

~Sue

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I created Lady Liberty alongside death as a statement of our democracy dying.  She sits in my front yard during Halloween season and goes to the many Indivisible / No Kings rallies.

She can also be worn and marched down the street for a moving protest.

I created her originally to protest fracking 23 years ago.  She was then representing “Mother Earth" on life support.

My car is a traveling bumper sticker for the resistance.

I cut the stencil and painted her about 3 years ago.

~Linda

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My art has evolved from painting into frog protection through the many activities of A Frog House and my continued psychiatric practice. It is meant to keep the world, inside and outside of me, lovable enough that people still want to protect it.

Raised and living amid urgency, achievement, status seeking, greed, and indifference to others, choosing delight, curiosity, and attention has become my quiet form of resistance.

Through stories, images, playful expressions of care, and the shaping of what is before me, I try to make space for wonder and connection for anyone who comes on my path. If people can feel a sense of belonging again, even in small ways, the desire to care and act follow naturally.

~Margot

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All I can say is YES! Protest or giving voice to an issue / Art is essential and conveys more than just words. It’s a nonverbal part of communication.

~Victoria

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Art expresses freedom. 

Even if the artwork depicts imprisonment, art declares freedom.

Art comes from the place in people where freedom lives, and humanity, and joy, and resistance to domination.

~Priscilla

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Art can be a vital form of political expression; but art is not simply a personal statement. When we make art—a painting, a poem, a story, a sculpture, a play, a film—we are entering the public sphere, and we are taking a stand before the world, striving to make ourselves seen and heard.

Once a piece of art is created and seen by others, it takes on a life of its own. It becomes a new entity. Art can go on speaking for us, long after we are gone. Art has the power to empower. All who experience the art are changed. Ultimately, art can remind us and encourage us to take our place in community with others, in the public sphere, where we can step up, stand out, speak out, through art.

~Patricia

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