Guerilla Art Presents: Global atrocities and injustice can cause a sense of helplessness and fatigue. What can we do? What happens when we get overwhelmed as we work to change the world? Contemporary artists of Chicago create a lot of community engaged art that address social justice, but how do they cope with these very human responses? Resistance can manifest through many different creative actions. Rage is a common feeling when we encounter injustice. It can be difficult to channel rage into constructive action or not let it lead you to despair. Students will learn a drawing technique that provides catharsis. Pain and anger can be released positively and used to create meaningful conceptual artworks. As Audre Lorde and Nap Ministry have taught us, Rest is Resistance. The burden of activism can take its toll on our psyche. In order to create social justice, we must be safe and find comfort. Students will learn meditative drawing techniques that can lead to a sense of healing. Healing keeps our voices strong. Healing helps us rest and resist the trauma caused by injustice. Empowerment is an important step towards creating work about social justice. Students will explore using their empowered voice to create protest posters about an issue of their choice. They will make artistic decisions around text and simple imagery for a poster to demand change in the world. This workshop allows participants to explore a variety of drawing materials and processes to create their artworks around the concepts of Rage, Healing, and Protest. Each section takes place simultaneously in working stations. Participants are invited to try each of the three stations in whatever order and timeline they choose. They will be inspired by exemplar artworks from the Chicago scene shown on a slideshow at the beginning of the workshop. Artistic agency and youth empowerment are central concepts for this workshop.
