02/07 Adrienne Rivera

"One of the things we've learned from all these people in all these places is that artistic activism is not the preserve of the privileged. Artistic expression and cultural creativity flourish among communities who are marginalized within formal spheres of politics, law, and education. We've also learned that artistic activism works particularly well into repressive regimes where overt political protest is prohibited, yet artistic practices are tolerated or even celebrated." (11)

I think it was important for this to highlight this as art is in a very different context when in regards to activism. It is not for the privileged or the elite, it's a completely different scene. But a way the underdog to be seen, for people pushed away to push their way back in, to make the comfortable uncomfortable.

"Facts and truth don't speak for themselves. They need to be made into symbols and incorporated into stories that people can make sense of and care about, They need our help." (25)

I feel like humans have always used art to communicate or get our ideas across, Im thinking even primitively with story telling and oral traditions. We have always turned things into symbols and incorporated them into stories, I feel like it is almost the way we may even naturally come to truly understand things.

What is Art Activism? A hybrid practice that marries the creative force of art to the concrete results of activism.

The example of art activism in the reading that I wanted to focus on was the creation of the video installation at a formerly segregated water fountain. A sign had fallen from the top of this water fountain in 2003 to reveal the sign that was originally underneath it that said "Whites Only" referring to Jim Crow laws that were in the south. There was a heated debate about what to do with the fountain and sign, until an artist called Lauren Woods decided to create a video installation for it, in which if you were to press the fountain for water, a 45 second clip of the struggle and fight for equally during the civil rights era in the United States, which is what has made it so that the fountain is for all to drink from. I think those numbers are very important when we think about this piece. It took almost 10 years for the piece to be installed, as many protested the length of time it would take to get water. However, County Commissioner John Wiley Price said it perfectly, "Some of us have waited 45 years or longer [to drink from that fountain]".