An umbrella title of my engagements in the realm of this… immigration and identity, in effect, and its extremely complex web of phenomena and effects.
From talks to workshops, from thematic exploration in the works to a talk once given under this very topic, to conversations and postings and defenses and dissentions all.
Phrasing says it all. Perfectly, really.
And this blurb that shine a light:
I never thought of myself as an immigrant. And when in a Paris apartment two years ago a friend of a friend in the middle of a heated discussion stopped everyone and said, “they talk about immigrant rights and immigrant laws and immigrant policies, immigrant this and immigrant that”, and then paused and then let out, “Goddamn it, I’m not an immigrant, I’m a human being”, I smiled, and confirmed my own long-held position and reluctance to intervene. Where then, does my involvement with ‘immigrant populations’, ‘New New Yorkers’ and other such groupings, at such esteemed institutions as The Museum of Modern Art, The Queens Museum of Art, or even at the Forum for… come from? Probably from a desire to undermine those very categories, to begin with. But for a whole plethora of fun and experimental reasons: to take advantage of the possibilities of exploring alternative educational models and practices; to experience art, literacy, museums, life – and shoot the breeze – with people of all backgrounds with interesting stories and perspectives; to innovate: create programs, design curricula and ways of being, offer connections and relations between people, institutions and the world that, in a more rigid setting, might be impossible. And, along the way, rethink, reframe, rewrite, the very meaning of our adventures as people who ended up moving, from one place to another, from one world to another.