"The Black Heart", American Academy in Rome Salone, Judson Memorial Church, NYC. March 2026.

Improvisational drawings filmed via Go-Pro, Illustrating the year of the Fire Horse. 

A 10 min film work by artist Dara Friedman followed by a discussion & workshop as an elaboration of the topics in the film by myself and the other participants, braiding together art and academia fluidly and practically. Gundula (grandmother) and Violet (granddaughter) make a massive joint Fire Horse painting. Sadie Laska, painter and musician, creates a beat and soundtrack. Bettina Funcke, philosopher and art writer, describes the ming men: according to Classical Chinese Medicine, a place in the body that locates the gate between the Prenatal and the Post Natal. In a time of chaos, study of this feminine principle is vital: circling around a nothingness, the lost strands of the matrilineal line re-drawn via critical fabulation, and the ability to create something out of destruction. A way of talking about the body that is ever-expansive, not separate from the life of the mind and the psyche. Doubt and Hopelessness have a movement of contraction in them as emotions. Hope seems like a small gesture compared to trusting the mystery of life as a way to open up to the mystery of life. This film also depicts art making cross-generationally and collaboratively. In a time of political nihilism, violence, and fear, art is a tool to work with feelings like fear and hopelessness while remaining open, receptive, not shrinking. The field of feminism is transformed through a deep-dive into the very ancient and complex concept of the “feminine” paired with the radical joy and fundamentally political act of art making. 

As Brian Eno stated, regarding whether making art could be deemed a political act: “…ways of composing are political statements”. Certain forms demonstrate “…a belief that things work according to that hierarchy”. However, you can then flip that structure upside-down or fan it out horizontally, cyclically. “...to make something is to express a belief in how things belong together. To me, that’s a political statement”.