It’s a strange time in the American narrative. Ongoing social wounds are being brought to
light through social media and under current power and political realities,
increasing in their absurdity. Every day
there is more news that protections of the earth and vulnerable people are
being stripped by our national government.
It is a difficult time that is marked by distrust and anxiety and anger. There are so many words, so many talking
heads, so many retracted corners, so many secrets, and so many secrets being
revealed. It’s exhausting and
painful.
Our American story is in the process of being rewritten to
include every American’s experience. The
myths that have woven a convenient story for a few are being blown up, even as
those that prefer the convenience are holding tight to the mythology.
Culture is alive though, just as the earth. Artists have always, (throughout time, across
culture, everywhere on the planet) played the role of creating vision and
challenging the voice of power. Visual
language gives us an opportunity to imagine a future and a present in a way forward
more compelling than the trap of words. With
nuance and contradiction, bravery and tenderness, art calls on emotions impossible
to speak.
Providence is a dynamic city filled with people
whose legacies stretch to every corner of the earth. As such, it is filled with profound artists
who use their work to wrestle with their personal experience in our current
reality. We need to embrace them. We need to experience their vision. By
doing so, our understanding of the possible will be grounded in a human story broader
than the experience of a few.