Presentation at the International Peace Research Association biennial conference, Calgary, Canada, July 2, 2006

Art Activism Beyond Oppositionality:
Prophetic Activist Art

A new activist art must grow out of ideas of the 60s - but not the 1960s, the 1260s. It was during this time period, sunk now in the dim past of human history, that developed a profound new conception of prophecy that is far more relevant to contemporary activist artists than the "shock" ideas of the 1960s. Certainly, all activist artists view themselves as prophets, but the conception of prophecy itself must be understood in the medieval sense: it is in these prophetic models that contemporary activist artists will find their inspiration.

Mystics of the 13^th century - one of the most fecund spiritual epochs of all human history - developed a conception of prophecy that moved beyond simply acting as society's conscience. Thirteenth century prophets like Moses Maimonides, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi and St. Francis of Assisi all believed in an activist prophecy, in which a legislative portfolio was added to the societal oversight usually required of a prophet. It was no longer enough for a prophet to simply point out the ills of society; the new standard demanded that he or she propose concrete steps to help remake the society in the moral, caring image of a truly conscious world.

Today's activist artist must follow this model, moving beyond the "sky is falling" shock art of the 1960s, towards that earlier conception of prophecy. Most importantly, activist art must move past oppositionality as the basis of its message - expressing an idea that separates the audience into "us" and "them." This type of art merely mirrors the worst energies emitting from the political class and the war media, helping to harden people in their positions, instead of opening their minds to new possibilities. Shock art only turns people off; a true activist art wants to make a positive difference, not just make a splash.

A central aspect of accepting a legislative role in prophetic art-making is that the artist must offer creative responses to specific problems. It is not enough to simply repackage the news in creative manners, thereby picking at the scabrous wounds of the human condition; creative thinking must underlie a successful activist art project. Obviously, this takes quite a bit more intellectual work than recent models of activist art, and the 21^st century activist artist must add the duties of activist thinker and social philosopher to their resume.

Additionally, it is imperative that artists be honest about just what art can and cannot achieve. Artists will never change the world through their art alone; these utopian visions from the last century are definitively buried beneath the ashes of two great wars. However, art can focus positive energies and inspire individuals in unique ways. The activist artist must view him or herself as playing a Confucian role: that of inspiring people, instead of trying to lead them. Through the art and the ideas behind the art, an activist artist can truly make a difference by seeding creative, positive motivations into the very populations that are working within the cultural and political worlds where true change will be effected. Like a magnifying glass focusing the energy of the sun, a successful activist project can coalesce positive energies and reseed them back into the greater society.

It is imperative that activist artists not take sides in ongoing political conflicts. It is impossible to be for one thing, without being against something else. Activist art based in medieval prophecy must be for the greatest human ideals - truth, justice, peace - and against ignorance, war and abuse, instead of taking sides for or against a particular ethnicity, state group or political party. If artists create work that stands for the universal ideals, the clarity of the message will ring clearly and objectively. In this manner the activist message is based in truly positive energies, providing the impetus only for healing, and not for further pain or vengefulness.

One of the most powerful aspects of the arts, perhaps unique to this field, is its ability to bring people together, both like-minded persons - inspiring them to do greater deeds working together - as well as people who might view themselves as enemies. As a true activist art stands for humanity's highest ideals, this type of creativity can form a gentle bridge for a first rapprochement between warring parties, or politically estranged groups. Undoubtedly, no matter what political views or cultural traditions are held by estranged partners, they can come together around our highest human ideals. True activist art will heal and strengthen.

Additionally, a successful activist art project can focus the media on ongoing issues surrounding peace, human rights and universal respect. As the BBC journalist Jake Lynch recently averred, the media covers events, not processes. While the struggle for human rights, for instance, is a laborious and ongoing process, an art exhibit concerned with these ideas is an event, and therefore works in unique ways to focus the issues, attract the press and help raise the awareness of the underlying and ongoing process of this struggle. By collapsing processes into events, art can shine the spotlight on important work in numerous peace and rights fields.

A vital aspect of the steely honesty with which activist artists view themselves is that they should trust neither the ultimate power of art nor the sustained interest of the audience. Both of these forces have been called into question recently, as contemporary art has either become absurdist and irrelevant to the greater society due to its auto-referential content, or simply abusive in its shocking subject matter. The activist artist must move beyond "faith" in people's desire to learn from art, to demanding relevance for their work and ideas through the art's creative content and aesthetic quality. While the idea of "visual aesthetic" is certainly personal, a beauty based in the passion and veracity of the artist him or herself will certainly touch an audience. As the Sufis said, words spoken from the heart will enter the heart, and a visual language based in the heart of the artist will offer the height of aesthetic quality, regardless of the specific artistic symbols or vernacular.

Creative means must be utilized to ferret out targeted audiences and novel exhibition spaces that will better infiltrate activist work into the arena that that the art is trying to effect, hearkening back to its vital Confucian role. The gallery/museum system must be viewed as ancillary to an activist art project; there are untold other spaces that will provide far better access to the target audience. The lobbies of non-profit groups working in the same arena, university galleries, in advertising spaces - thereby co-opting this important contemporary manner of influencing people - in transit centers or any other space that the artist can conceive of will all offer better audience participation than gallery venues. Again, it is creative thinking that underlies the conception of where the art might be exhibited; the limits are defined only by the imagination of the artist him or herself.

Activist artists must devise and utilize sundry methods of expressing their underpinning ideas, thereby attracting a diverse audience and providing a bridge to bring like-minded people together working in different fields. Visual art alone is not enough; art coupled with expressions from other fields, such as academics, policy makers, artists working in other media etc. will expand the audience and the import of the project. The more vectors of infiltration into the society, the more will the project have an impact.

To offer a healing and emboldening energy, it is important that the art not rail against the prevailing culture, as this will immediately turn-off populations that the art is attempting to reach. Successful activist art, even if based in the pain and anger that we all can feel, must leave a sweet taste in the mouth; it must offer some positive creative response to the issue in question. Purely negative shock-activist art has proven to do little more than calcify people in their positions - and give cultural conservatives a folkloric hobgoblin to point to as the "boogey-man." Ultimately, shock art does more to harm a good cause than to help it.

As such, it is vital that the activist artist think in terms of breaking down the walls of "oppositionality," making it possible for their ideas to infiltrate into a more general, mainstream public. This "breaking down of the walls" should not be done with a metaphorical sledgehammer, however. As Lao Tzu said, "Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid." A successful activist art should be like water. While the artist should in no way dilute the quality of their art nor compromise its message to make it more palatable, by increasing vectors, the art and message will become appreciated by a wider and perhaps even philosophically opposed audience. To reach those who are in initial disagreement with the artist's message is one important mark of successful activist art.

I would like to give some practical examples of these theories from my own career. After all, theory only becomes meaningful when it is applied. Additionally, much of this activist art model has emerged from my own practice, and subsequently the ideas have informed new activist projects, attempting to ameliorate various social and cultural ills.

By giving these examples from my own activist art career, I hope to show the specific potential of these activist theories, as well as spur other artists on to devise new and wider ranging activist projects. I also hope to show to the non-artist activist population the potential of activist art, and spur them on to partner with artists, thereby expanding their message. After all, those of us who care about creating a conscious and peaceful world are currently losing the battle to the encroaching Orwellian haze of the mainstream media and two American political parties; if we don't offer a fresh, positive vision of truth, justice and peace that can reach into the general public, we will soon all be state artists - or worse.

First, I will explore my Human Rights Painting Project, which I began in 2001 in conjunction with Amnesty International. This project involved my painting portraits of human rights defenders from around the world and then exhibiting this work along with biographies of the subjects, to raise awareness of these issues and of the important work of Amnesty International. Additionally, through devoting up to 50% of sales of the art to Amnesty, the project has raised many thousands of dollars to support their vital work.

I developed much of my activist art theory through working on this project; it taught me about the breadth of possibility for activist art - and how there is a real thirst in universities, communities of conscience, under-represented groups of people and among non-artist activists for a creative response to our world in crisis. It is vital that an activist artist appreciate how much people want and need their positive, creative output to help give them hope and feed their souls. By understanding this, activist art will grow from a sense of obligation and sharing and not solely from anger.

Most importantly, through my work on this project, I discovered how many people want to be part of the struggle for human rights, justice, truth, peace etc. - only they do not know how to concentrate their energy, as they feel completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the issues. Their positive energy is like that of the sun: it must be focused and harnessed to become truly useful. Lacking a point of focus, these same people of good conscience and positive energy often throw up their hands and turn back to their own lives.

By offering specific, project-oriented goals through my Human Rights Painting Project, I was able to allow people to find their own personal manner of becoming involved in healing our world - feeling as if their particular skill set and level of commitment could truly make a difference in helping make the world a better place. And once having acted in this project, they might well have felt more energized to take on a further role in other activist projects, either art oriented or not, appreciating that their personal offering could really help out in the struggle for a more just world. It is inspiration that the activist artist is bartering - and the mark of it's success is how many sparks can be lit with the art.

People helped out in a number of specific manners and insodoing realized how their personal skill set could be wrapped into the struggle for a better world. One woman designed the project's catalogue pro-bono; another put together our website for free. One person wrote the biographies of the people that I painted, a few others copy-read the text, two individuals funded the printing of the catalogue, a few people looked for appropriate venues for the inaugural exhibit, contacted potential honorary co-sponsors and worked to secure letters of support from Senator Paul Wellstone, Chinese Democracy activist Wei JingSheng and Amnesty International USA President Bill Schulz. While no one person did the lion's share of this work, the collective created a truly impressive activist project, all coming together around the original idea and my own paintings.

This touches on another important strategy in inspiring people to get involved. By partnering with a respected, non-art organization working on the same issues, I was able to raise the profile of my activist project, as well as inspiring more people involved with the host group. This is very important, as it contextualizes the art project within the greater world of activism and gives an important, non-art avenue of entrance into the work and ideas.

Another vital role that activist art can play is to provide a gentle bridge that virtually no other impetus can offer, bringing unknown friends together or bridging gaps unreachable via political means. For instance, my Human Rights Painting Project brought President John Sweeny of the AFL-CIO and Bill Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA together for the first time. Although they certainly knew of each other and the goals that they shared, the opening reception of this exhibit provided the specific impetus for them to sit down together and get to know one another. What came out of this brief meeting was a pledge to work together - something the two groups had never done prior to this time. By pooling their resources on issues of shared concern, they believed they could greatly extend their clout. Indeed, since April 2002 when the reception took place, the two groups have in fact worked together on numerous shared objectives and an ongoing working relationship has flowered.

Activist art can raise hard cash for the host group, thereby furthering the activist goals in a clear, necessary manner. Instead of giving 50% of sales from the art to an agent or gallery director, I have dedicated up to this amount of paintings sold, plus 100% of monies raised from the sale of catalogues and notecards produced in conjunction with the show, to Amnesty International, raising many thousands of dollars for that group. I might add that by donating such a large percentage of the proceeds to Amnesty, sales pressure is heightened, as purchasers feel they are buying into a whole activist event, instead of just purchasing an object.

The ongoing series of shows and the media coverage that it generates has continued to raise awareness of not only Amnesty International, but also the sad omnipresence of the human rights issue, both in the United States and around the world. Through personalizing the issue of human rights, not only through the art portraits, but also through the wide participation by other people in the project, a wider audience can appreciate the issues of concern. Even beyond this, through the non-combative manner in which the issues are explored, people have the space to ponder these important issues, instead of being turned off by shocking images or accusatory tone. After all, it is vital to make the audience feel personally implicated in the human rights and justice; in this manner, the art project has been able to turn social voyeurs into actors.

This exhibit uses the beautiful, haunting portraits to make explicit the negative energies of human rights abuses that take place not only in Equatorial Guinea, Turkey and Iran, but also in prisons in the United States and, under our watchful but complicit eye, in places like Saudi Arabia and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In this way, we can all see that human rights abuses are not something that only happens "over there," but can be perpetrated by our own government, and therefore involves us all. Additionally, in these very troubling political times, this show has given voice to those who don't agree with the prevailing political minds in the United States, offering a place to gather, a way to come together and say, "Not in our name!"

Finally, as the Human Rights Painting Project becomes better known, it has turned into a conduit for other groups and peoples to get to know about Amnesty International, as well as to partner with that group on specific events, raising awareness and money for their own important activist causes. The paintings have been show in conjunction with like-minded groups such as UNESCO Center for Peace (Frederick, MD), Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition (Washington D.C.), Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (Baltimore, MD), Empowering Women International (Alexandria, VA), National Center for Children and Families (Bethesda, MD), StandUp for Kids (Boston, MA), Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund (Austin, TX) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Galway, Ireland).

A second project of mine, Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical Entanglement, is building on the activist lessons learned from the Human Rights Painting Project. With this work, I am attempting to insert a message of peace into the fractured Middle East - and build bridges between two warring states. This work does not make a value judgment about who is right and who wrong - Israelis or Palestinians - but simply offers a quiet voice insisting on the legitimacy of both sides' rights through the unearthing of a buried legacy of respect and intertwined spiritual roots between the Jews and Muslims. Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical Entanglement is predicated on the words of the holocaust survivor and great human rights activist Elie Weisel, who said: "I still believe human bridges can be built between the two communities (Jews and Arabs), through reciprocal visits between students, teachers, musicians, writers, artists, business leaders and journalists."

Specifically, my Shalom/Salaam Project highlights the strong Sufi (Islamic mystical) influence on the development of Jewish mysticism, following this unfamiliar tale from 11^th century Spain and Egypt, through the Kabbalah and into the Baal Shem Tov's Hasidism in the 18^th century. Although this story has been buried beneath current enmities and by cultural racism on both sides, the cross-pollination between Judaism and Islam is so fertile that one could argue both religions are really just hybrid versions of their own teachings and those of the "other." This work traces in a specific manner how Jewish and Muslim mystics throughout the Middle Ages studied together, read each others' works and used the other religion to build their own spiritual understanding.

This activist intervention utilizes art, academic writing, interfaith events, featured speakers and other approaches to educate the public to this specific, positive story that took place over nearly a millennia between Jewish and Muslim mystics. Additionally, through recent contacts in the Holy Land, I have been made aware that Jewish and Sufi contacts are ongoing; it is my hope to expand the project from out of the past into the present, following the tale into the living fabric of the contemporary Middle East. With this work, I want to move beyond the activist impulse of the previous endeavor, to create an ongoing, expanding project can that attempt to influence events in the political and social world most in need: Israel and Palestine.

The art itself uses both abstract and figurative languages to capture this fascinating story. A wall-borne installation introduces the gentle practice of Sufism to the audience; a series of colorful paintings based in teachings of the Baal Shem Tov capture the fervent practice of the Jewish mystical system. And, based on the artistic model of the last project, I have recently received a grant from the Sugarman Foundation (Novato, CA), to expand Shalom/Salaam by painting a series of portraits of the specific Muslim and Jewish mystics who worked together throughout medieval times. Like the figures in the Human Rights Painting Project, these paintings are accompanied by biographies, which explain the specific manner in which the portraited mystic worked across religions to help knit the two systems together.

Using some of the methods developed in the Human Rights Painting Project I have been able to introduce the ideas of peace between these warring peoples to an ever-wider audience. I have exhibited artwork from the project in galleries and small museums in the United States and Europe. I have taught a course entitled Sufis and Hasids: Masters of Mysticism at the Jewish Study Center in Washington D.C. I have had six articles on the subject published in Jewish, Sufi and general magazines, as well as finishing an academic study of this subject, Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical Entanglement, which is currently being considered for publication. Lastly, I participated in a symposium on the subject along with Dr. S. H. Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University and Dr. Marc Eli Saperstein, Head of the Judaic Studies Program at George Washington University. This symposium was followed by an interfaith Ramadan Iftar, or break-fast.

My ultimate goal is to show the artwork in Damascus, Syria and Tel Aviv, Israel at the same time, which would help begin a conversation of peace between these two warring states. While trying to mimic the success of bringing Amnesty International and the AFL-CIO together by bridging warring states' enmities might seem like a bit of a leap, I have come to appreciate that art can go where politics will not. By offering this show in these two estranged countries, it seems possible that a non-threatening link could be set up between Syria and Israel that might lead to other positive developments.

If this book does get published, I will immediately produce a "Poker for Peace" fundraiser to purchase enough copies to donate one to every library and school in the Palestinian Territories and Israel, adding yet another avenue of entrance for the ideas into the heart of the world where it is so important. Additionally, the fundraiser will introduce the project and its ideas to the poker-playing elite!

Although I have not yet partnered with an activist organization working in this area, as I did with Amnesty International for the last project, I will look for this linkage as the project grows. Such groups as Seeds of Peace or Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam would be natural partners. Additionally, building on lessons learned on how to use normative structures and institutions to raise awareness of activist ideas, I will look for "honorary co-sponsors" from the political and entertainment field, as well as interested individuals to lend their help and expertise to the project, and continue to raise its profile within the communities where it matters most.

In another effort to expand the reach of the message, I plan to produce a conference entitled "Passages" that would bring together all the Jewish, Muslim and international NGOs that are working on peace issues between Israel and Palestine, plus all of the many artists working on this same subject, which would create important liaisons between all of these parties. Host institutions might include George Washington University, who hosted the Shalom/Salaam exhibit and symposium; the Irish Centre for Human Rights, with whom I am working on the Human Rights Painting Project or another interested organization. This conference will not only introduce the NGOs to a powerful set of tools, in the artists who could help creatively further their message, but will also set up important links between artists and artists, NGOs and NGOs.

Building on ideas about providing people with specific manners in which to focus their positive energies, I will expand the project by wrapping other artists and artistic outputs into Shalom/Salaam. I will produce the Shalom/Salaam Catalogue, which will combine my art and writing with poetry based on Sufi and Jewish teaching stories (by Susan Davis), cartoons based in Sufi and Hasidic tales (by Larry Rodman), plus academic interviews with experts in the field to continue bringing this little known story to a wider audience. Lastly, funding permitting, I will commission Jazz pianist Harry Appelman to compose Songs from a Jewish/Sufi, combining modern Jazz sounds with medieval Jewish and Sufi mystical intonations. Harry has been involved with Israeli/Palestinian peace activism for many years and his exceptional talent as a jazz composer makes him the perfect Jewish/Sufi voice to produce this work.

Shalom/Salaam continues to expand my understanding of a positive, activist intervention. Using specific artistic means, plus strategic partnerships, the visual art can become the impetus for a wide range of important activities. It can coalesce a peace-oriented community, collapse the ongoing process of Middle East peace efforts into an event that focuses positive energy and media attention on the creative ideas and offer a gentle bridge that might be impossible to build through political means.

Taken together, these two activist projects explore in specific ways how art can positively influence conversations of human rights and peace. By offering an ever expanding menu of vectors to infiltrate the work and ideas into the very populations that care most about the issues and which might make the most difference if inspired by the art, this activist model moves beyond 20^th century utopian ideals to the nitty-gritty of trying to affect the world, one brick at a time. Additionally, it models manners in which to personally involve ever-wider groups of people as fellow actors in the project, thereby harnessing the diffuse and all-too-often ineffectual energies for common good that lie dormant, waiting to be activated.

I personally do not believe that art, in and of itself, will never change the world on its own. But art can open avenues, build bridges and inspire others to see manners in which they might be part of changing the world for the better. Oftentimes, the first step is the hardest and if art can offer a gentle first step towards peace in any of a variety of manners, it has answered an historic call to help humankind reach its highest potential.