How do social justice themes feature in ar t? What does it mean to use one's platform as an artist? And how does art hold a mirror to us and our dreams for who we can be?
\nSocial Justi ce in the Arts showcases three immigrant artists who harness their creativ e talents to drive social change. Through their art\, these individuals gi ve voice to marginalized communities\, challenge societal norms\, and insp ire action.
\nCarol Zou (b. 1988\, Hepu\, China) is a U.S. based com munity-engaged artist whose work engages themes of spatial justice\, publi c pedagogy\, and intercultural connection in multiracial neighborhoods. Th ey engage durational\, process-based collaborations with community contrib utors using mediums of craft\, media arts\, and public installation. As a counterpoint to their collaborative work\, their writing and conceptual wo rks interrogate questions of conflict and antagonism constitutive of the p ublic sphere. Their style of multi-sector collaboration gestures to an int erdisciplinary\, liberatory future in which we are all hopefully a little more undisciplined. Current and past affiliations include: Yarn Bombing Lo s Angeles\, Michelada Think Tank\, Trans.lation Vickery Meadow\, Project R ow Houses with the University of Houston\, Asian Arts Initiative\, America n Monument\, Imagining America\, US Department of Arts and Culture\, Spa E mbassy\, Enterprise Community Partners with Little Tokyo Service Center\, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture\, and The Hive.
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Maribel Rodriguez loves her roo ts and her parents&rsquo\; countries\, Colombia and Puerto Rico. Having be en to both countries and growing up in Brooklyn\, NY a melting pot of many cultures\, she has a love for people of diverse cultures and walks of lif e. She studied photography at The Rochester of Technology and Social Enter prise at American University This is where Love 4 Immigrants was founded a s a graduate capstone project out of the frustration of seeing immigrants being depicted in the media in untruthful and inhumane ways. In addition t o creating Love 4 Immigrants\, she was a social entrepreneurship an educat or with LearnServe International. Now Maribel works at the Prince George's County Memorial Library System with Intercultural Services.
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Salomé\; Cosmique is a Colombian artist\, Trauma Informed Teaching Artist and curator currently residing in San Juan\, Puerto Rico. She has a degree in visual arts from t he University of Strasbourg in France. In 2012\, (while in France) she obt ained her National Diploma of Plastic Arts\, with a concentration in sound arts from the School of Arts of the Rhine (Haut É\;cole D'art du Rh in) in Mulhouse\, France. From 2017 to 2023\, Salomé\; lived in Phil adelphia\, Pennsylvania\, (USA) where she worked as a curator in Dissident Bodies\, Dislocada/Dislocated International and Love 4 Immigrants. In Phi ladelphia\, she exhibited in several individual and collective exhibitions . For Salomé\;\, the arts form a positive vehicle which can bring be neficial changes to society as well as the potential to transform lives\, art as a healer\, something she promotes in her artistic pursuits. Since 2 012\, her performance work has been inspired by colonialism\, immigration\ , women's inequality\, and dissident bodies. Through her pictorial work th e artist seeks to remember the memories of our ancestors. She has exhibite d in Europe\, Latin America\, the Caribbean\, the United States\, and Indi a. She has been granted with: The Micro Grant of Bartol Foundation and Art and Change of Leeway Foundation.
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