Stay Inflated

#Activism can never stop

The artwork in the photo is by Banu Cennetoglu.  Born in 1970 in Ankara; lives and works in Istanbul.  The artwork is on exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.  The plaque describing the artwork reads as follows:

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, three years after the end of World War II.  According to the UN, it sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has been translated in over 500 languages.  Banu Cennetoglu’s right? (2022) presents the articles of the UDHR in bouquets of gold letter balloons.  As the bouquets deflate during the run of the show, they will leave viewers to question whether any rights can remain without the labor of protecting, extending, and upholding them.

In her cross-disciplinary practice, which includes photography, sculpture, and moving image, Cennetoglu explores the impossibility of giving form to absence and how the process of attempting to do so deepens our understanding of loss.   right? similarly asks if we can protect what is being undermined and never fully actualized as intended.”

I respond to the artist’s inquiry by saying that constant, unrelenting activism is necessary.  We can never stop pushing for change.

No rights will remain without the labor of protecting, extending, and upholding them.

A hard truth.  A truth we need to be reminded of regularly.   

Activism can never rest. 

Continually identifying and fostering new leadership in young people.  Never letting our guard down after a ‘win’ (which will always be overturned the minute you turn your back).  Keep the big picture in mind, don’t let the culture wars divide and conquer.  And embrace art as an important tool of activism.  (More on that next week)

My apologies to the artist.  The ‘g’ in her name should be a ‘g with a breve’, the breve being a  symbol over the g.  Just as I am frustrated that autocorrect is Ameri-centric and can’t handle non-American English spelling, so does it make it difficult to add the symbols.