hilos

one way in which diversity presents itself is through culture. we bring the traditions of our cultures with us and with it the artwork and the ways of doing and viewing it. art can be used in resistance, not only through providig alternative reading of what art is but also purposefully creating it to question social norms and other things taken to be natural or innate somehow.

figuring out a way to do this efectively is hard.

 art can be used to bring the communities together like through a series of workshops with different art forms like music, poetry, breakdancing etc. Art can also be used to bring up a variety of points like look, our culture is beautiful, or look at how different stereotypes contribute to our own oppression etc. this can help create unity in a community through interaction and relating to one another. 

i am very intrigued by the idea and practice of street theatre, and some day soon i hope to perform it, becasue it brings theatre to the people on the street. you don’t have to pay to get in and you don’t have to sit or just watch. there can be interaction and tension as well humor and a political point that is driven across.

i mention this becasue recently i saw a video with a group of people dressed up as clowns who go and stand with the minutemen (in physical space not becasue they share ideas) and protest with them in a way that shows, or atempts to show,  the absurdity of the minutemen. They say thing like we wanna be clowns like you, and ask for people’s papers in terms of the galaxy, among other things. This type of action is intersting because it drives a point across in a kind of fun way (though i’m not sure how fun it is for those being made fun of). i am also not super sure about the effectiveness of the tactic, but it’s an interesting idea to think about as a way to defend a community, in this case the undocumented community, in a not so confrontational way.

street theatre is a way to politicize a public space. one that is fun and not destructive. in terms of changing and bringing up issues in a city it can be employed very effectively. we have to keep exploring other ways to bring up our issues and creating areas where we can talk about them to actually do something about them. slowly reclaiming where we live and in the process helping others to do the same.