Art as Resistance

The question of the artist is what does freedom look like? The question of the activist is how might it be obtained? The question of the activist is how might we dismantle the system. The question of the artist is how might we envision liberation beyond the system.

— Carlton Mackey, Creative Director, Freedom, Bound

Jamaal Barber, an Atlanta-based artist and printmaker, discusses the process of creating "100%", his commissioned piece for Freedom, Bound. As a printmaker, Barber has long been inspired by the work of Emory Douglas, the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, whose art and illustrations are iconic for the Black freedom movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Huey P. Newton, the chairman of the Black Panther Party, and outspoken supporter of global freedom struggles, said “We support the Palestinian’s just struggle for liberation one hundred percent.” Barber’s print, reminiscent of a design by Douglas and elevating Newton’s words of support, honors the legacy of these two visionary leaders. The print features Newton together with contemporary activists, all atop a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, giving expression to the timelessness and inherent interconnectedness of movements for liberation.

Artistic Responses

In January 2017, Freedom, Bound issued a Call to Artists for contemporary artistic responses to the living legacy of Black-Palestinian solidarity. Artists from Palestine/Israel, the Palestinian diaspora and the US submitted their creations and offered visions of collective liberation.

Together with a commissioned piece by Atlanta-based artist Jamaal Barber, a jury selected five artists to join the Freedom, Bound exhibit and to inspire imaginations for the world we desire. The winning submissions are featured below, and we invite you to further explore and support their powerful work: Dexter R. Jones, Sharaf DarZaid, Ali Akla, Muhammad Sankari, Lubna Morrar and sb.

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"Recovery"

Dexter Ryan Jones

We cannot quit in situations as dire as these. We cannot afford to stop when we are talking about lives and our survival. “Recovery” is about choosing movement rather than stillness. For both victims and their loved ones, for individuals and their communities, it is about choosing life and refusing death. When we realize, together, that we are the world, there is nothing that can come against us.

Afro-Dabke by Sharaf DarZaid

A fusion of history, folklore, beauty and resistance, Afro-Dabke draws from traditional dances of Cameroon and Palestine and speaks to the shared energy, vitality and purpose of creative expression.

“Art under oppression is a means of building knowledge and a powerful tool of resistance – one that facilitates social change through the liberation of the mind.” -Sharaf DarZaid, creator Afro-Dabke

The dances are celebratory and exuberant, and in reviving cultural roots, also serve to resist racism, colonialism and oppression. Afro-Dabke explores the intersection and similarities of folkloric dance and the inherent interconnectedness of human expression and longing for freedom.

"Freedom"

Ali Akla

The upper part of the canvas is composed of painted, parallel lines; motionless, never touching the other. The second part is made of thread, free to intermingle, free to move but not free to leave. As the lines interact, we remember that we are interconnected, united. Free.

"Ferguson October"

Muhammad Sankari

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There are those who would call me infidel

For likening this place to Mecca

But I can’t think of a better way to honor the Prophet

Than by having new friends lead the Fatiha in broken Arabic for the soul of Mike Brown

Stumbling 3rabi syllables followed by flawless English translation

“Bismillaah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Al hamdu lillaahi rabbil ‘alameen
Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Maaliki yaumid Deen
Iyyaaka na’abudu wa iyyaaka nasta’een…”

“In the name of God, the infinitely Compassionate and Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds.
The Compassionate, the Merciful. Ruler on the Day of Reckoning.
You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help…”

In this street littered with candles & fading stuffed bears

I find the end of a ripped keffiyeh tied to a tree

Checkered red and white it’s flickering in the warm Missouri wind

I think of Ms. Jordan who reminds me

                “A tiger does not fall or stumble
                broken by an accident
                A tiger does not lose his stride or
                clumsy
                slip and slide to tragedy
                that buzzards feast upon.
                                                                Do not forget.”

I could call this place Montgomery, or South Africa, or Palestine, or the Congo

Could say this is another casualty of Colonialism;

Because asphalt always seems to crack the same way under the weight of oppression

And the same distinct dusty hot smell permeates every ion of occupied air

Another death attributed to a Zombie paramilitary trained by Zionism LLC

Bullets proudly stamped “made in the USA”

So that the flesh pierced by the full metal jackets never forgets its origins

But words are meaningless

And slogans echo hollow in the apartments of Ferguson

Where they watched their child gunned down like an animal

As if to remind them that hope and the human spirit are contraband

In the occupied territories of Black-Amerikkka

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Cold balmy days

The streets of St. Louis

Can’t believe the concrete doesn’t crack

Against the weight of our chants

Teenage voices hoarse yet powerful

Pronounce every rhythmic syllable

“Shut it down, shut it down, If we don’t get it shut it down”

Wonder if Mike Brown knows

That Arab kids know his name

And in heavy Midwest accents clap hands and stomp feet

To the rhythm of their chants

Calling for justice

Calling for change

Mike we called for you

5,000 people calling your name in the streets-Mike

I taught our youth the chants-Mike

They’re calling for you

Want you to push out from early grave & be given a hero’s welcome

Mike we called

Want to embrace your crying mother and console her the way I know how “Allah Yir7amu inshallah”

Serve your father bitter coffee in tiny plastic cups

Because that’s how we mourn

Mike we called for you

Want you to stroll down 63rd street with the other guys

Smoke your swishers in front of the chained up JJ fish

Come up our creaking carpeted stairs and join us for our program

Mike we called for you, 30 strong in the streets- Mike

Everyone your age Mike they called

For their college friend they would never be able to meet Mike

I’m just leaving this message to let you know…We called Mike

As the road to joint Liberation in unprecedented in both the Palestinian and Black communities, so are the wounds, Traumas and scars that have been passed down from Generation – to – توليد. The Black and Palestinian/Arab connections, have long reached back to histories and ancestry tied to one another, like leaves and branches.

We, are honored to present to you – the ongoing battles of being stripped away from home, identity, gender, spirituality and put into chains and four-by-four rooms with no windows. The decolonized voices of the artists. A track filled with poetry, Hip-Hop, eclectic sounds and words all tied together towards, Freedom.