July 30, 2021
Dear community,
Last month, the good folks at Destiny Arts Center led our staff in a reintegration circle that began with a simple question, Where does your water come from? Re-asking simple questions can refresh and reopen our connection to each other and to the world. Young people and artists are great at this; do all MLK Boulevards look the same? What happens when I flush the toilet? Where did the community go when the school was closed? Why are there so many bodegas in my neighborhood?
What questions will you return to this month? Who and what will they reconnect you with? Share them with us @oandbinstitute on Twitter!
With love, Evan Bissell Arts & Cultural Strategy Coordinator
+an offering Caption: Website banner with background image looking down a mountain with snow covered trees. White text reads: kúkuum yáv nukyâati peethívthaaneen, We Make the World Good Again.
Fire season is upon us. This storymap by the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources lays out the essential role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in being in right relationship with our ecosystems. Look out for our Cultures of Care interview with the Department in the coming months!
+opportunities Caption: Website screenshot with a grid of six different images and titles. The heading on each image reads “Tactic”.
Caption: A video screengrab from the Heroes of Unity project shows three people silkscreening outside at night with prints hanging on a clothesline behind them. Video credit: Jamie DeWolf
If you’re in Oakland or San Francisco, you’ve still got time to apply for two levels of grants (Planning, $10-15k and Implementation, $50-100k) for temporary public art projects. Due August 20th.
Caption: Image shows two people looking at a sculpture of a greyish-brown reclining humanoid figure covered in bumps and with black feathers over their face. In the background are four European classical paintings in gold frames, one of which is a reclining nude.
+ecosystem Caption: Image shows four pictures from past BAMDFEST; a person drawing on plexiglass an image of human figures with cube heads, seated audience members reading aloud, a performer gesturing with his fist backed by a live band, a block of speakers with roots growing out of them.
+from the archives Caption: Three black and white portraits of elderly men looking directly at the camera, each with the same background of a brick wall, a window with no glass and trees.
In 2017, MacArthur Award winning photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier spoke at the Othering & Belonging conference about her work with coal miners which explores labor, environmental injustice, memory and the power of photography to change how we see ourselves and our communities.
+nourishment Summer has arrived & we curated the perfect mix to vibe out to on Spotify!
+reflection from staff Caption: Miriam feels most at home when surrounded by her family. Pictured here is Miriam, her parents (Lupe & Roberto) and her four brothers (Rica, Beto, Rigo & Lalo).
Miriam Magaña Lopez, MPH Research and Policy Analyst
Migration is beautiful. I often reflect on how incredible it is that people can bring culture, traditions, customs and food across borders. When I am eating at a delicious restaurant or attending a street festival filled with joy, art, bright colors and lively music, I pause and I smile. I feel so fortunate that I can experience something so new to me without having to get on a Plane.
Although faced with resistance and the pressure to assimilate – we are able to form communities and spaces that resemble a version of what feels like home. And sometimes we chose to share who we are in a public way: through our food, art or cultural events. I am an immigrant. I was born in Jalisco, Mexico. When I was five years old my parents, my brothers and I immigrated to Sonoma, California. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household. Navigating a new country and its systems was tough, but my family found solace in forming community with neighbors. While Sonoma was not exactly Mexico, we found Mexican ingredients for our cooking and a community that celebrated holidays in similar ways. I came together with others over shared experiences, it felt like home.
When I graduated high school, I moved to St. Paul, Minnesota to attend Macalester College. While I thought that college was fun and engaging, I struggled to find a community similar to the one I had growing up. I was seeking to create a space where I felt at home – and held on to only what I knew: coming together over shared ethnic and cultural identity. I did not find it. While tough, I am glad that I experienced this discomfort because in my search to find community and acceptance I found connection with my peers in different ways. Although we did not come together because we shared a cultural identity – our own unique cultural identity became a connecting point. I found myself in spaces with people who wanted to learn more about me. And I wanted to learn about them, too. People organized cultural events. We shared meals, music and the struggles faced by our respective communities; through this process we found similarities, too.
Culture is a huge part of who I am and how I view the world. To me, culture has served as a powerful vessel to create spaces that feel like home and form community. And while there are not always opportunities to come together through intentional dialogue, we’ve found ways to publicly share a part of us. We’ve opened restaurants to share our food, we’ve created public art through murals and graffiti, and we’ve organized community through cultural events. These public displays allow us to create home, and to celebrate and showcase parts of who we are. To me, that is beautiful.
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