Creative Solutions: the (Not IRL) Pride Summit and Art as Advocacy
A conversation between moderator Ingrid Dahl and artist Shantell Martin on empathetic and creative solutions to systemic challenges. Available through the (Not IRL) Pride Summit by Lesbians Who Tech.
Ingrid Hu Dahl. Source unknown
Moderator Ingrid Hu Dahl is a Musician, Writer, and the Director of Service Design Education at Capital One. Dahl's focus is empowerment – whether that is leadership, media, tech, music or education. Dahl has developed numerous innovative programs to assist young adults achieve their goals in coding, music, and creativity.
Shantell Martin. Source unknown
Artist Shantell Martin is a "cultural facilitator, forging new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy and technology." Martin's work focuses on meditation and self-reflection – both on the part of the artist and the audience. Her distinctive work is centred on communication and creative solutions.
The mood between Dahl and Martin was cool and collaborative, just like their conversation on advocacy in the arts. The conversation began with meditations on identity and how outside perceptions of identity shape creative individuals. What happens when you've absorbed traits placed on you? How does one cope with fractures in identity and how can creativity positively combat the divide between you and....you?
Shantell Martin's reflections manifested in the project Dear Grandmother. Dear Grandmother was a fifteen-year collaboration between the British artist and her English grandmother. As Martin expressed most of us have quite stoic and plain conversations with our grandparents, but she wanted to disrupt that and have challenging conversations. Martin and 'Gran' have collaborated on over seventy text-based artworks reflecting on their conversations addressing overt and subtle linguistic challenges that lock or obscure identity security like "Go Home"/"Come Home" or "British"/"English." The works prompt cross-generational and cross-racial conversations on identity, family, and communication.
For Martin, the most empowering facet of creativity is the ability to create physical moments and the audacity of self-reflection. There's power in imagination. Martin trusts her pen to take her where she needs to be.
So, how do we lead with creativity? It's important to acknowledge injustice and accountability in order to move forward. Further, it's important to invest in taking the time with good intention to make real change. Asking the questions "may we, may I.." prompt healthy considerations for future projects. And it takes hard work. Ingrid Dahl remarked on how, in leadership positions, we should invest in leading with "empathy and vulnerability," cultivating spaces and platforms for individuals to thrive and take risks without fear.
Shantell Martin, The May Room, 2019. Source unknown.
And as Martin further professed, we have old successful systems that benefit a slim few. And while thinking of systems I'm reminded of institutional stagnancy, tastemakers, commercial fairs, and insular mobility. In order to move forward, we need to collectively deconstruct those systems and invest in one another. In a grassroots effort, we need to hold institutions and businesses accountable and hold each other up in order to ensure those old systems fall apart.
Individual reflection and change are tantamount to the greater creative solutions needed in the world: As Shantell Martin adopts in her daily practice, how can we leave something better than we found it?
“I’m always trying to do better, be creative, ask questions and seek answers in the reflection of others. I will continue to draw lines that connect, expose, explore the world”
I was very much inspired by this conversation and I hope you find inspiration and reflection in the work of these two amazing professional creatives. You can "join your queer, inclusive, badass squad virtually" and find more professional development, tech inspiration activism and inclusive gatherings over at Lesbians Who Tech and the (Not IRL) Pride Summit which has events scheduled until June 26.
"One big take away from this conversation?" Dahl asked. As Martin responded, "Think about everything people tell you that you can't do. Take one and go do it."
Read more:
https://lesbianswhotech.org/speakers/ingrid-dahl/
Veda Lane,
Head of Features, MADE IN BED