In the wake of the Charlottesville protests, I was encouraged to see some anti-fascist art popping up in my Instagram feed. It’s so easy to feel powerless when confronted with such powerful expressions of hate, but one easy thing we can all do is share images and messages that express what we believe in. I went digging for some art being made in response to hate, racism, and heart-breaking current events. Here’s what I found:
Amplifier Foundation has this to say about the power of art: “In times of uncertainty, art is more than beauty. It is both a weapon and a shield in the battle for our identity, our dignity, and our safety. Art has the power to wake people up and serve as a catalyst for meaningful change. It can be a compass in these turbulent times, point the way to the future we want, a future free from fear and discrimination." Follow them on Instagram for daily doses of disruptive art.
Three major American magazines stood up to Trump with their iconic covers.
Residents of Berlin have been covering up nazi graffiti in their streets. And it’s not just the young folk.
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralized network of 30 artists committed to social, environmental, and political engagement. Check out their impressive portfolio or follow them on Instagram.
This morning I got halfway through This American Life’s latest episode all about Afrofuturism which, is both a movement exploring black science fiction and fantasy, a cultural movement, and a way of life.
The band Portugal. The Man (I heart their music) is donating all the profits from their Charlottesville show to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.
This article profiles some non white musicians who are speaking out and using their music as resistance. One of the musicians offers some great advice: "Listen to people who have totally different life experiences to you ,and listen to how people are organizing and addressing difficulties in their communities. Listen to Black Lives Matter, listen to the indigenous First Nation's people who are gathering and blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline. Listen to women and LGBTQI people."
When the Montana Human Rights Network acquired 4,000 volumes of white supremacist propaganda they didn't know what to do with them. So they gave them to artists to transform them.
Ashley Lukashevsky's illustration was all over Instagram last week.
Micah Player's drawings are also pretty great.
While the United States grapple with a history of slavery and white supremacy, here in Canada, Indigenous artists are working on taking back what the legacy of colonialism and residential schools has stolen from them.
This sounds so cool! Indigenous artists created a virtual reality look at what Canada will be like 150 years from now.
Have you seen any artists standing up, resisting, and fighting back? Please share in the comments below!