What is the future we want? Many of us have spent a lot of time and energy focusing on everything we don’t want. We have been working to resist systems of inequity and oppression. Important work. Now let’s also focus on the future we want.
Let’s envision the future we will build together.
Below is a collection of work demonstrating just that, unveiled Friday, January 22, 2021.
Assateague Island, 2019,
Adriana De Cervantes
Doylestown, PA
Photograph
When I think about ‘The Future We Build Together’ I think about my children and the planet they stand to inherit. The ability to explore and enjoy the beauty of nature is integral to nurturing their sense of curiosity. Assateague Island is a place we have the privilege of visiting regularly. When we visit we take the opportunity to talk to our young kids about the wild horses that live there and how they can enjoy the environment there as long as they also respect it. I want the earth and it’s creatures to flourish. As a parent, I hope that my children learn this idea of care and respect and apply it in all aspects of their life.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Sins Invalid // sinsinvalid.org
Sins Invalid is an important organization that celebrates & promotes artists with disabilities. Their focus is at the intersection of a few of the justice issues that are most important to me. Those of us that make and enjoy art need to be more intentional about lifting up the voices of marginalized artists, especially those working towards social justice.
Artist Links
adrianadecervantes.com // @adecer22
Chad,
Allison LeMieux
Three Bridges, NJ
Memoir/Short Story
Since the beginning of COVID, most of us have probably felt like life has been passing up by to an extent. This piece is to remind us to live–despite circumstances–as best we can. And when we reach out and take hold of the opportunities life presents us, we will undoubtedly create a more beautiful future for ourselves.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
We Need Diverse Books // diversebooks.org
I work as a Reading Specialist for lower elementary students, and I am repeatedly saddened by the lack of diversity in the books out little ones are given. This organization works to celebrate and promote books that represent all walks of life, which, in my opinion, will ultimately help all of our readers feel seen and respected in what they read.
So the Question is…What Do You Believe?
Kristen Smith
Lambertville, NJ
Ballet Choreography/Video
There is no quick or easy solution to solve the complex issues of today’s world. But as an artist, I keep working to envision tomorrow’s world- a world with an equitable and beautiful future for all. I believe that as artists, we can continue to work to provide access and exposure to arts opportunities to all communities, both rural and urban, diverse and changing. There are so many under served communities and I believe it takes resilience, teamwork, and creative problem solving to nurture the next generation and to develop their love and appreciation for the arts. I have been blessed to work with many dance educators and leaders that believe the same. We use our classes and our choreography to explore these complex issues and support the more culturally diverse America that is emerging. Dance can help all students, young and old to connect more deeply to their true self, to others, and to their environment. It can give them a voice and a way to express their joys, their fears, their experiences whatever they may be. I believe that everyone can find beauty, enjoyment, and enlightenment through this art form. This particular piece was created to inspire young women to challenge or transcend the sanctioned female identities and move towards self-discovery and awareness. And so the question is….What do you believe?
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
roxeyballet.org // millballetschool.com
Roxey Ballet is an international professional ballet company and it uses dance to build community and cultural bridges. The Mill Ballet School is the official school of Roxey Ballet and this particular piece was made for its senior trainees, who regularly get to dance along with the professional Roxey Ballet company artists.
Future Feelings,
Nancy Dominiani
Whitehouse Station, NJ
Poetry
An original poem about our feelings in the future.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Flemington Woman’s Club // flemingtonwomansclub.org
Flemington Woman’s Club is a non-profit service organization providing donations in goods and money for a variety of charities as well as education for its members through monthly meetings.
Flying Hearts! Rising Love!
Mary Schwarzenberger
Milford, NJ
Mixed Media/Fiber
This piece serves to remind us that in the middle of the pandemic and so much strife and hatred, we need to remember that there is not enough love in the world!
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance // ocrahope.org
Ovarian cancer is the most deadly form of women’s cancer, for which there is no screening! It receives less funding than other forms of cancer, despite increasing numbers of babies and children being diagnosed. Most women are diagnosed in later stages, with dire outcomes. OCRA supports research, spreads word about symptoms, and provides information about this form of cancer.
Artist Links
maryschwarzenberger.com
We Are One,
Cassie
Flemington, NJ
Colored Pencil
After quarantine, I realized that we can’t build a future if we don’t listen to each other. I drew two ears that ate supposed to form into a heart. The ears are connected by ear buds. There have been so many events in 2020, that in order for us to make progress we need to put in effort to treat each other with kindness. In order for us to show compassion to each other, we have to listen.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Change // Change.org
I want to share this organization because they are fighting for equality in feminism and racism which is important to me as a female person of color who’s Asian. They also have petitions regarding the pandemic and wearing masks is important to me because I work at a grocery store, so preventing the spread of Covid-19 to make sure customer won’t get sick.
Beach View,
Marisol Alejandra Nuñez
Flemington, NJ
Pastel
This is showing a peaceful place, where we let it go our stress and anxiety.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Hunterdon Central Regional High School // hcrhs.org
I chose my school where I graduate on 2020, and during my senior year, the honors art class made me realize that I was hiding a talent.
Paths,
Joshua Coleman
Flemington, NJ
Video
The entire piece is visually built almost entirely from the essence of a single image, animated, distorted, and interwoven into a cohesive visual web. Conceptually imprinting the idea that while we all ultimately are different people, forging down paths dictated by our environments and our choices, that all of our paths trace back to the same origin, equal at birth.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Starthrower Group // starthrowergroup.com
I want to raise awareness about Starthrower’s mission and attract potential supporters, donors, and business sponsorships.
Artist Links
@shuacole
Tune In,
Nicole Maniez
Lambertville, NJ
Print
Collective Liberation means all of our struggles are intimately connected. Every one of us suffers when systems of oppression exist. An equitable future is possible when we gather in community, our diverse backgrounds and identities strengthening our ability to dismantle systems of oppression and build a collective future where we have equal access to resources, education, healthcare, joy, love and a full sense of our humanity. Can we all tune in together?
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Allied Media Project // alliedmedia.org
Allied Media Project is a source of hope, organizing and community that opens up a vision for the future, offering all kinds of resources for us to begin to imagine and also work on what is possible. Check them out and also their conference for inspiration and to support their work.
Artist Links
@forty.finer
darkness
behind the velvet curtain
behind the altar
I imagined an endless darkness.
I worried that if I was not careful
it would consume me.
a misspoken word
a discovery of a hidden shame,
and I would be thrust in forever.
condemned.
I didn’t know
that I was born from that darkness.
that it’s still in me,
at my center and gradually
fading from all of my exteriors.
it lives, and has always lived,
inside
and just outside,
on the periphery of everything I know.
like where the horizon touches the sky,
darkness touches up against
everything I love
everything I am and
all that I hold.
like a kid on an amusement park ride
I have clung to what is illuminated.
I have wanted so desperately to
trust what i see,
to know.
buoyed by questions
I have searched for only that which is lasting
desperately, fiercely, I have held on to all that I love.
but now, I find myself being moved
to the edges of my experience–
to the space where one thing fades into another.
where future is shrouded in shadow
away from the bright light at the center,
slowly inching toward the gray light of
acceptance.
darkness,
Kristin Kane
Amherst, MA
Poetry
This poem is really about our shared humanity, and how ultimately what we share (a brief life on this earth) is much deeper than our differences.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Teaching Tolerance // tolerance.org
As a teacher, I rely heavily on the important work done by Teaching Tolerance. It is my go-to resource for helping explain difficult history and current events with students.
Community Hands,
Delfina P
Flemington, NJ
Layered Block Print
The future we build is in our hands, in the hands of the people, in the hands of our community. The future I envision is one of community care, of building solidarity, not charity. We cannot rely on the failed systems that exist today, those built upon capitalism and exploitation. In the future we build, we must take initiative into our own healing hands to support each other and take care of each other. This piece reflects the vision of a future built on mutual aid, a future built with our own hands and love.
Organization You Support Creating a More Equitable Future:
Central NJ DSA Mutual Aid // venmo.com/CNJ-DSA-MA
“Every month since March 2020, Central Jersey DSA Mutual Aid has been providing 20-25 families with monthly grocery packs. This is in addition to the daily requests made by community members and nobody is denied aid. So far, they have been able to provide groceries and essentials to almost 600 Central Jersey families! Food is a human right. As our government continues to fail us, it is clearer now- more than ever- that we are all we have ever really had.”
The need continues to grow as the pandemic continues with little- if any- assistance from the federal government. If you are able, please consider making a donation to the Venmo @ CNJ-DSA-MA ❤️ so they can continue to provide these most essential items to our community!
Artist Links
@delfis_world
