Our Ancestors Dreamed of Us by Jess X. Snow, in collaboration with Jordan Alam. Photo by Luna Park.
"Our ancestors dreamed of us, and then bent reality to create us." – Walidah Imarisha
In case you've not been keeping up with the news... The latest version of Trump's Muslim ban was due to go into effect this week (until it was blocked by two judges), and his proposed federal budget includes billions of dollars to build the US/Mexico border wall.
This week's installation comes from queer migrant artist Jess X. Snow, in solidarity and collaboration with queer Muslim activist Jordan Alam. Jess says that the work was made "in response to the recent anti-immigrant executive orders and as a love letter to the Muslim immigrant community." Jordan expands on that thought:
"'To Allah we belong and to Allah we return' is a rough translation of the dua said at someone’s death. Blessed is this temporary cycle. We are part of a long lineage, a history of others who have dreamed us into being (as Walidah Imarisha puts it in the introduction to Octavia’s Brood). We are ourselves complete and also part of this larger whole and while we are impermanent, we are irreplaceable. Remember that you have the hands of ancestors at your back, and the duty to dream of the generations ahead of you."
Our Ancestors Dreamed of Us by Jess X. Snow, in collaboration with Jordan Alam. Photo by Luna Park.
We hope this poster is a source of encouragement and inspiration for communities who are under attack right now, and reminds everyone in the country we are largely a nation of immigrants, striving to create better opportunities for every future generation.
PS, Jess and Jordan have made a digital download of this poster (and another in the same series) available for free through Justseeds, so that anyone can download, print, and install it themselves. That may come in handy for Subvertising International's #SubvertTheCity campaign, a global call to action to against advertising and consumerism in public space. You can take part next week, March 22nd-25th, in any number of ways: Ad takeovers, lectures, workshops, calling your elected officials... Learn more about SI and #SubvertTheCity through PublicAdCampaign.