Fifty years ago, in 1969, I was a thirteen-year-old kid, recently arrived in Chicago from the mountains of Puerto Rico. I had landed in a country on fire and was quickly drawn into the flames; the liberation struggles and mass movements of the time. Soon I was drawing caricatures of politicians, woodcuts of fugitives and leaflets for fundraisers.
Now, thanks to the (much appreciated!) efforts of a planning committee, I can let you know about an exhibit we’ll be opening this fall featuring fifty years of movement history as told through my art. It will be titled Another World is Possible: Five Decades of revolutionary Art with Ricardo Levins Morales and will be held at CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha) and will run from October 6 until November 22, 2019.
As someone who’s been in the struggle for a few minutes I am very aware of how our collective histories get stolen, erased, distorted or romanticized beyond recognition in ways that make them irrelevant (or even toxic) to today’s rebels. Those movements – like today’s – were mostly youth-led, and my hope is that with this exhibit we can open a space/time portal which young activists from different eras can reach through to touch each others hands, hear each other’s stories, listen to each others fears, and applaud each others victories. We set up times for inter-generational conversations, panels, performances and hands-on activities during the exhibit highlighting art, justice, organizing and collective healing.
We need to re-weave the past into the present in order to create the future we deserve. I invite you to come be part of it.
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Ricardo Levins Morales
Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio 