Collective Artwork in Response to Halim Flowers
All the Black Revolutionaries are Dead
by Michael Leonard and Rebecca Pacuk An integral role of the carceral state is to silence dissent. This is evidenced by the drastic and brutal response of the prison system upon those prisoners who seek their own humanity through artmaking, let alone movement building. When we ask ourselves why the most radical Black revolutionary movements never took hold, instead yielding to reformist neoliberal political strategies, we must remember the many leaders of historical Black revolutionary struggles who have been locked up or killed by the state. Today, the prison remains among the state’s foremost tools in the opposition of a Black American revolutionary movement. |
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A Woman's Personal Anthem
by Grace Wodarcyk and Jessica Tovey This video was inspired by Halim Flowers' work "National Anthem". We reflected upon Halim's line "if all men are created equal, what about the women?" and drew upon our own experiences as women. We hope this work provokes thought around gender discrimination both in society, and on a personal level. |
Life, Love, Liberty
by Daniela Perez-Retes and Cheryl Freeze This video is a response to "National Anthem" by Halim Flowers (performed with VOICES21C). |
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My Eyes
by Jessica Tovey, Grace Wodarcyk, Daniela Perez-Retes, and Cheryl Freeze "My Eyes" is a piece of PhotoPoetry by Halim Flowers. This version of "My Eyes" is a reading of Halim Flower's poem, supported by music, movement, and visuals by the artists listed above. |
Sleep well, my dear child
by Shree Lakshmi Vaidyanathan Halim Flowers and Ras J.T Shabazz' experiences made me reflect on the injustices I see around me in Bangalore, India. As a so-called "upper-caste" privileged woman, I was blind to these injustices until my 20's. I wrote this to make my sons, aged 9 and 5, grow up with an understanding of their privileges. |
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Life, Love, Liberty...
by Kateri Gemperlein-Schirm, Tara Palazuelos, and Jimmy Rotondo A video response to Halim Flowers' "National Anthem" where we examine the symbolic actions of our society and what it means to be patriotic today. |
What's Free
by Alyssa Jewell and Allison Donahue An animated video collage responding to Halim Flower's powerful commentary on freedom in this country. |
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A Rat
by Allison Donahue, Alyssa Jewell, Jimmy Rotondo, Kateri Kemperlein-Schirm, and Tara Palazuelos In response to the "National Anthem" by Halim Flowers. This video explores the current climate and rhetoric of our country specifically surround the events of the Capitol Riots. |
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Land Back Now
By Grace Shaver and Evelyn Li This is a video reflection on Halim Flowers about the justice for Native Americans. |
Love Is Connection
by Rose Whitcomb and Sunny-Moxin Chen A Zoom theatre piece reflecting on the many ways in which hatred divides us in American society, but using love, we can overcome the barriers between us. Inspired by Halim Flowers' "National Anthem." |
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Love Back Now
by Grace Shaver, Evelyn Li, Sunny Chen, and Rose Whitcomb Halim's poetry and artwork allowed us the many ways that difference is used to divide us in society - to spread hatred and fear, and prevent people from working together in community with each other. We created this protest piece to speak out against the injustices we all suffer, from different perspectives, and how we can treat each other with more love and bring it back into our lives. |
StolenGreatness_ReclaimedGreateness
by Emma Hill Stolen Greatness and Reclaimed Greatness--two pieces depicting duality that is intertwined with mass incarceration. Stolen Greatness seeks to capture the continuous systematic injustice and life course of mass incarceration. Reclaimed Greatness seeks to represent the power of love, hope, self-agency, and resilience. Love is the antibody is credited to Mr. Halim Flowers. |
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Criminal Injustices
By Kim Kamerin This is programatic piano piece in response to Halim Flowers' story and his dedication to love as a guiding principle. Original Poem: From the depths Of pain and injustice Something rises up A struggle to find the sun A path to the light Love |
Love is the Antibody
by Michael Frontz In this mostly improvised response for solo cello, I utilized some general musical details to respond to the visual detail and message of his Halim Flowers’ painting “Love is the Antibody 2”. The common motif is a cell of G, E, and D- in many tonalities these function as tonal intervals intended to be peaceful in nature. The cell is expanded on throughout the work representing love, piece, and calm. Ricochet and pizzicato bow strokes reflect the small dabs of paint across the canvas, the “antibody” making its way across the world in small but noticeable ways. Melodic, tonal pathways function as “love, peace, and calm” as forces of dissonance, dissonance, and division make their way into the piece. It is my hope that this will be listened to while contemplating Halim’s work. I encourage the audience to critically reflect on the response. Can a work which functions “aesthetically”, that is, could be listened to and contemplated without the political visual medium as simply music (for I acknowledge that without the original material, it does not sound overtly political) properly serve to accompany the work? Does the music’s inclination towards harmony gloss over the strife and carnage which Love must save? How does the nature of an *improvised* work, convey the spontaneity and personal response to the painting? |
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Sweet Land
by Bobbie Steinbach This spoken word poem has had a few iterations. It tumbled out of me a number of years ago in a form that I recently realized was not from my authentic self, but rather from the perspective of a POC, which I am not. I have rewritten it from my POV as a privileged white woman. It is a cry for justice for the inordinately high percentage of the people of color who are incarcerated in our broken racist prison system. |
Rebuilt, Regrown
by Leah Murthy This triptych is in response to the art work of Halim Flowers, a man who was incarcerated for far too many years when he was just a child, and now wants to spread love: He began with so much potential (childlike drawing), incarceration shattered his innocence and identity, leading to the label of superpredator (torn pieces), then he rebuilt, regrew himself with love (symbolized by the pieces reassembled as a tree growing and emerging from an ocean of injustice, the pieces of the sun symbolizing his light and love in the branches) he is bursting with renewed potential and possibility... |
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Dear White Women
by Jessica Tovey This art piece was created on International Women's Day in response to Halim's "National Anthem" performance with Voices21C. As I grow older, I continue to learn more about how myself and other white women have contributed to systems of oppression. This is a call to action in the form of a love letter to my fellow white women. |