Featuring the work of Cori Matyas, Jean-Michel Rolland, José D. Trejo-Maya, Nicole Dextras, Sandrine Deumier, S. Chandrasekaran, Vardit Goldner, and the collective work of Komal Goswami, Cody Igo, Alexander Kirkpatrick, Alex Mendoza, Maria Fern
Curated by Flounder Lee
Jurors: Aya Rodriguez-Izumi, Lauryn Tyler, and Flounder Lee
Curatorial Statement
What is the difference between surviving and thriving? What are some of the tools, technologies, and systems that can get you/us from enduring to flourishing? What are possibilities within neurodivergence and disability for knowing more ways of abundant, joy-filled life? How can we build resilience into communities and individuals to tackle whatever political realities and climate catastrophes yet to come?
Survivance is a concept articulated by Anishinaabe cultural theorist Gerald Vizenor 1 that goes beyond mere survival into actively creating thriving communities that are also integral to the world outside of their communities 2–4. Vizenor says survivance “[…]is an active sense of presence over absence, deracination, and oblivion; survivance is the continuance of stories…” 5. It is active survival, pushing away victimhood and pushing towards a thriving future without passing the trauma of colonialism onto future generations. Not forgetting it, but teaching history without the trauma continuing 6.
Solarpunk is one tool for working on many of the questions posed here. It looks for possibilities that are both global and local, solutions small and big, and everything in between; one magic fix to create a better world is antithetical to Solarpunk. Instead, it conceives and enacts a million solutions to these problems7, the right tool for the right situation.
These artists deal with the present and future in a variety of ways. Everyone deserves joy, love, to thrive, not just survive.
Citations
(yes, in a curatorial statement)
Vizenor, G. R. Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance. (U of Nebraska Press, 1999).
Abreu, M. A. Embodying Survivance. Art in America (2017).
Ortiz, V. Virgil Ortiz. https://virgilortiz.com/about-vo/ (2020).
Speed, S. & Topash-Caldwell, B. Native Studies in the Apocalypse. (2020).
Vizenor, G. Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence. (U of Nebraska Press, 2008).
Ski, M. & Luger, C. H. Artist Talk: Cannupa Hanska Luger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EcEEF4Y-0Q&feature=emb_title (2020).
The Solarpunk Community. A Solarpunk Manifesto (English) – ReDes – Regenerative Design. Regenerative Design http://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/.
heather ahtone, PhD. Shifting the Paradigm: A Love Story. (2021).
Nagam, J., Tamati-Quennell, M. & Lane, C. Becoming Our Future: Global Indigenous Curatorial Practice. (ARP Books, 2020).
Reilly, M. Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating. (National Geographic Books, 2018).