Mizna promotes contemporary expressions of Arab American culture. We publish the literary journal Mizna: Prose, Poetry and Art Exploring Arab America, produce the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, and support an exceptionally talented and diverse range of local, national, and international Arab American artists.
Mariee Sioux, “Black Snakes” music video; Karen Finley, Vote Like Your Life Depends On It; Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dreamocracy In America; Linda Montano, Passing Through (version 1); April Bey, You About To Lose Yo Job ‘Cause You Are Detaining Me, For Nothing; Merritt Johnson, DIY: NoDAPL; Penny Slinger, Heavy Lifting-2; Charles Schneider director, music video for “Animals Eat The Sky” written and performed by Christine Shields.
INVOCATION DEMOCRACY a Political and Mystical Virtual Exhibition
Presented by Pro Arts Commons, Curated by Monet Clark
October 30, 2020 - January 20, 2021, Inauguration Day
This exhibition is accessed through multiple 3D virtual galleries which will be embedded into the Pro Arts website, making it available to audiences globally.
Art provides us with a liminal space wherein momentary suspensions from our patterned thoughts and identities can be experienced, allowing for us to align with new states of awareness. Art can reveal cultural biases and their impacts, function as a catalyst for change, and it builds culture. As we nationally and globally navigate through this time of political, social, environmental and health crises the voice of the artist is needed now more than ever. With a nod to Holistic Theory and Intersectional Feminism or what I like to refer to as Holistic Intersectionality, and through the synergy of the sum of its parts, INVOCATION DEMOCRACY provides a virtual space to reflect on and envision the preservation and repair of our democracy. Joining together performance artists, video artists, recording artists, painters, and interdisciplinary artists from across the nation, INVOCATION DEMOCRACY provides an interstice for grief, a necessary step for action, and suggests that all of our intentions, actions and our votes matter, especially during this time of transitioning power structures.
INVOCATION DEMOCRACY proposes that a healthy democracy protects not only all of the people within its borders, but also the land within its boundaries, through policies which promote proper land stewardship and management, which includes protections of animals with respect to local and global ecosystems. It maintains that healthy regional democracies engage in practices which contribute healthfully to the global climate both socially, politically and environmentally. It explores the links between Climate Change and misogyny, empire, white supremacy and cultural biases that are dismissive of indigenous perspectives globally, the mystic, the intuitive, the feminine, and the sentience of animals and nature. INVOCATION DEMOCRACY contemplates the impacts of all of these on our ailing democracy, and just what it may take to transform it. — Monet Clark, curator
Featuring works by: April Bey, Karen Finley, Edgar Fabián Frías, Frightwig and Timothy Crandle, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, John Dileva Halpern, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Jamil Hellu, Dale Hoyt, Merritt Johnson, Minnette Lehmann, Sang Chi Liu, Jennifer Locke, Darrin Martin, Ann McCoy, Lady Monster, Linda Montano, Shalo P, Charles Schneider, Christine Shields, John Sims, Mariee Sioux, Penny Slinger, Emily Harris and Dano Wall, Liz Walsh, West Facing Shadows / Lydia Greer and Caryl Kientz, Monet Clark