Artist Resource: Women, Art, and Change
 |
|
|
Artist and co-founder of CultureStrike, Favianna Rodriguez, created the "Migration is Beautiful" butterfly image. |
"I feel a need to make a difference in the world; that's why I work in the arts." This is one statement made by Rachel Moore at a recent convening of Vermont arts organizations. Rachel addresses community needs and contributes to Vermont's common good through her work as an artist and as director of the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe.
Creatives are well suited for making positive change in the world. In "
E Pluribus Unum," Rachel collaborated with fellow artist Kim DeBord to repurpose unwanted fabrics into quilts for homeless families beginning new lives in transitional housing.
Favianna Rodriguez, an Oakland, California printmaker, is taking a similar path. "More than ever we need tools to be able to access our imagination and help us resist this backward culture we are experiencing," she explains. Favianna creates colorful, swirling prints that make statements about immigration, gender, and politics. She is also the founder of Presente, a social justice organization advancing Latinx power and amplifying Latinx voices.
Muslim Girls Making Change is a slam poetry group of four young women in Vermont. Their spoken poetry tackles police violence, the immigrant experience, and stereotypes and misconceptions about faith, identity, and fashion. Messages of awareness and equal rights are broadcast through performances in their hometown of Burlington and beyond. The group has also been featured in the first and only Pan Arab women weekly magazine, Sayidaty, which is published in Dubai and Beirut and distributed throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and America.
"Art is the right vehicle for changing the world," Rachel reiterates. "My life - and the lives of those around me - is better because I work in the arts."
