Liberation ties: Stories from the diaspora
“there is no here, there is no there”
(acrylic, ink, gold leaf, yarn)
24x30”
Original mixed-media painting for “Liberation Ties: Stories from the Diaspora”, a gallery exhibition curated by ROYA in collaboration with Patrick Crowley
Hosted at Trade PVD, RI
Curator Statement:
At a time when many of us are bearing witness to extreme showcases of imperial violence in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Yemen, and many other countries, we have a duty to act. We recognize that living in the US means sitting in the command center of global oppression but instead of leading us to despair, this must lead us to revolutionary action. Liberation Ties is a gallery show exhibition featuring local artists and activists from New England and New York states. The exhibition is focused on connecting global decolonial struggles between communities of the diaspora and practicing collective reimagining of justice and liberation.
Artist Statement:
Amidst the ongoing state-sponsored genocide in Palestine and mass repression against protestors locally calling for an end to military and police violence, this piece is a reminder that we build liberation through generational and global struggle. In the enduring words of socialist Pan-Afrikan revolutionary Thomas Sankara- “we must dare to invent the future”. History/another present shows us that the solidarity of the working class people is powerful, and that these material solidarities move us past our individual moments. Every dreamer, organizer, healer, revolutionary, political prisoner, worker, ancestor is in our spirit ready to be alchemized into action.
Through this piece, I honor the women and gender-oppressed peoples who have been leading our struggles through confrontation, creativity, and care. From the decolonial and anti-caste movements across India and Kashmir to the fight to free the world from US militarization to the Black and Indigenous liberation struggles right here on Turtle Island, we are building futures in every moment. The only way forward is to de-center american exceptionalism- our lives here do not matter more than lives anywhere else, and our freedoms are braided together across borders. We will protect and love each other into new worlds because we know that barbed wire and brick walls and documents and drone attacks and the status quo won’t.