WE SHALL BE RIDING DRAGONS IN THE FUTURE TO MELT ICE
2020
digital print
Artist Statement
I believe art plays a very important role in social justice movements to help frame, symbolize, and communicate ideas and identity. I believe art is a critical conduit in fostering a more just world. I have been deeply influenced by the art of Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, and the Guerilla girls, who put their text-based works in public spaces. My art is similarly text-oriented and each metaphor captures one aspect of current protests, pushing new metaphors as far as possible. My art raises issues of the carceral state, militarization and policing, public monuments and memory, and ICE raids and immigration reform, generating insight by viewing them through new lenses, like science fiction, fantasy, mythic-religion, climate change and elemental hydrology.
Bio and Websites
John Paul Calavitta-Dos Santos earned his MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington, Seattle. His protest art comes out of his current protesting and political mobilization work. His work can most recently be seen at ace/121 Gallery and the SELA Arts Festival, LA.
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