Co-Creating Belonging in 2021
Even amidst the grief and the rage and the terror and the joy and the love, we must find ways to co-create belonging.
Hey Family, Comrades, & Neighbors:
Jason here with a year-end art update reflecting on one of my deepest insights in 2021:
We are all responsible for co-creating belonging. Even when we don’t want to.
As I look back at my year, I see so many moments of co-creation with incredible comrades near & far. They’ve held me as I’ve fallen apart while making art & living life. They’ve provided inspiration & ideas on what to make & how to make it. They have shared so fully who they be that their intimacy & vulnerability has made living & surviving in this racist, sexist, capitalist, ableist, ageist fucked up corner of the cosmos more bearable, more livable, more loving.
I owe them my life. Thank you. Deep bows. And lots of compostable glitter.
Vlog: We Are All Responsible for Co-Creating Belonging
I sat down early this morning with my coffee & a joint to reflect a bit on this past year.
Some Paths Co-Created in 2021
I spent some time this past week mapping some of the things that I co-created in 2021. What I started noticing were paths, not just things. That co-creation creates a web through space and time, almost like a neural network or mycelium. That its branches become the paths we travel. And that as we travel them we are etching & tracing & marking & reinforcing our place in spacetime and timespace.
To start noticing the paths I’ve traveled, I laid out each of the “things” I wanted to map along a rough timeline from left to right. Once each circle was placed, I sat with the whole thing pondering each placement. A few minor shifts, and I started connecting them.
Lines that extend all the way to the left indicate that what is represented by the circle began before 2021. Lines extending all the way to the right indicate that these things will be carried into 2022. A spiral surrounds the whole thing connecting what came before to all that is possible symbolizing that ALL PASTS & ALL FUTURES are always present.
It’s just some paths are more clear than others because we’ve traveled them before in this life, one before, or one still to come.
And…here’s where you can find out more about some of the paths above:
Queerly Complex - Co-Created with John O’Reilly
Queer & Trans Artist Salons - Co-Created with Juan Carlos Escobedo (in video), Fernando Vieira, and Kyle Lopez
Dandelion Arts Finance Training Program - Co-Created with Independent Arts & Media & Queering Dreams
Overjoyed! with Marie Queerdo (andKeith) - Co-Created with Midori
Dad’s Celebration of Life - Co-Created with My Family
Art Camp for Comrades - Co-Created with Crystal Mason, Kafi-Ayanna Allah, Midori, Aden Suchak, Kapi’olani Lee, CieraJevae Gordon, Fernando Vieira, & Izza Anwar
Queering Dreams - Co-Created with Crystal Mason
Immigrant Artist Network - Co-Created with Rupy C. Tut
QUEERSPELL - Co-Created with Ash Tré Phillips
November Calendar of Events - Co-Created with Crystal Mason, Rupy C. Tut, Todd Berman, Momos Cheeskos, Nadïne LaFond, Juan Carlos Escobedo, and Ash Tré Phillips
Freedom to Express Fest (More soon!) - Co-Created with Teacher-Librarians, RYSE Youth Center members, & Queering Dreams
A Space for Dreaming Abolition - Co-Created with Keyssh, Crystal Mason, & Kapi’olani Lee
Dear Dad, a Final Stitch - Co-Created with My Dad
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