'I am acutely frightened': artists talk of fears over a second Trump term

[babylonsister]

‘I am acutely frightened’: artists talk of fears over a second Trump term
Figures in the art world including Amy Sherald and Marilyn Minter share their concerns ahead of Trump’s return
Veronica Esposito
Wed 4 Dec 2024 04.04 EST


The Iraqi artist Vian Sora has seen the absolute worst that politics has to offer – she spent most of her first 30 years living under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, then endured the destruction of her country following the US invasion in 2003. Years later, she surfaced in the United States as a refugee. Her art, which mixes bright, neon colors with motifs from the ancient history of her homeland, is a testament to the history that has scarred her and her resilience as a survivor.

Settled now in Louisville, Kentucky, along with the family that she worked tirelessly to bring over from Iraq, she is a part of an art community grappling with what their vocation will mean now that Donald Trump has been elected president. The stakes for Sora are not just creative; her family itself may be threatened by Trump’s presidency. “I am acutely frightened by the prospects of refugees and immigrants becoming persona non grata,” she said, “as my sister has an asylum case that remains in jeopardy.”

Sora was one of many artists and exhibitors who I spoke with following the re-election of Donald Trump, and she was not the only one who felt personally threatened by a second Trump term. Cassils, a non-binary artist whose work frequently involves large-scale performance pieces that involve mass groups of trans individuals, said a curator friend recently canceled an upcoming exhibition and quit her job – instead of continuing her career as usual, she was making an impromptu move from her home in Arizona to California in order to protect her transgender child from hate legislation targeting their rights and body. These are threats that Cassils themselves feels subject to. “There’s the anticipation of not knowing, and that’s a really scary place to be.”

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/dec/04/artists-trump-second-term

[UTUSN]

1. Not far fetched that the long arms will reach even to us at DU.

[Aristus]

2. A key feature of American Imperialism.

Make the target country essentially uninhabitable by relentless military action, which forces the indigenous people to make a decision to leave their homeland and emigrate to the one country they know the U.S. will not bomb: the U.S.

Then make it intolerable for the refugees to live here, as well.

We did it to the Vietnamese, and we’re doing to the Iraqis.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R