Feast and Famine Art and Activism

The Paul Robeson Galleries that showed the Feast and Famine Art/Activism exhibition showed a variety of artworks from various artists on the topic of food, food consumption, and some historical and symbolic representation of how food affects us in political, economic, or social ways. Though my semester project is about immigration, specifically the Travel Ban, there were some art pieces that can relate to immigration that can correlate with my topic and art piece that I want to create. Out of all the artworks in the gallery, two struck out to me; Emu Flag and Cloak(Fluro Orange) by Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Rap on Race with Rice by Dominique Duroseau.

Emu Flag and Cloak is about a bird called Emu. This piece is a clothing item shaped to be a cloak. She uses materials such as netting and Emu feathers. Animal fur has always been in fashion, however, her take on using Emu feathers for fashion is much different than how other companies would go on the topic of using animal fur. Looking at Cardoso's art piece, it reminded me of the art piece I plan to create for my project. In reference to the image on the left, my art piece will be a hanging mobile, similar to how she hangs her art piece. As I was planning out how I want to create my work, I had a hard time visualizing what it would turn out like, her piece helped me understand how I should structure my work and some techniques I can use to make it stable. Though her piece has a different meaning from my topic, we both have the same concept of informing others of our topic through our artwork.oiaebnvoinvb

Duroseau's project is much more hands-on, yet it has a lot of meaning to what message it portrays. Uncooked rice, which half has been colored black and the other half left in its white color, is mixed together into a pile. The purpose of this exercise is to do it in pairs, or in a group, in attempts to separate the rice from white and black, all while in conversation about race. It was inspired by the original conversation between Margaret Mead and James Baldwin in 1970. Though it is not directly about immigration, it can be seen from that perspective. With the Travel Ban limiting certain people from certain countries from entering the United States, it has that feeling of segregation. This ban has kept the seven banned countries separated from America, like the topic of segregation of race from Duroseau's project.

Both of the works I referenced off of deal with socio-political topics. Cardoso uses the influence of fashion on social and political issues. Using animal furs and the cruel way the industry harvests the materials has caused controversy onto the treatment of animals. The way she structured her cloak, it is different from what a normal fur cloak, or any clothing piece with fur, would be like. It is light and not portrayed in a comfortable or flattering way in comparison to a stylish cloak. Duroseau's project tackles the topic of race still being unequal in today's modern society. This interactive art shows us that as we segregate the black and white grains from each other, separating them from the combined group. With race being a sensitive topic and segregation being abolished, Duroseau shows us how people's minds can still be segregated when it comes to our differences. "If one takes a step back, then, it's clear that social and cultural capital provide valuable insights into the power disparities that emerge from differences in race, class, gender, and cultural and geographical differences" (Introducing Social and Cultural Capital, 2015). Thompson makes the point that we define ourselves in how we carry our behavior. We are not defined by our finances, or how others of your race can represent a stereotype; Thus leading back into my topic of the Travel Ban. Banning an innocent resident from a certain country is not logical when only a small percentage of the actual culprits are at fault. Society is filled with stereotypes and racial views of people with different cultures. However, when politics adopt that bias, they have the control of who is considered as a citizen and who is considered as a threat.

Works Cited


"Introducing Social and Cultural Capital." Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century, by Nato Thompson, Melville House, 2015, pp. 86-86.