Social Justice Collage Workshop

A four-week, virtual/online workshop in March & April 2021 with Kolaj Institute

Deadline to apply: 13 March 2021

Collage artists with a passion for equal rights and equitable opportunities for all are invited to apply for Kolaj Institute’s Social Justice Collage Workshop, a four-week program designed to provide a foundation for the intersection of collage and social justice with the end result of creating a collage for an exhibition in May.

Early social justice advocates focused on issues such as the distribution of capital, property, and wealth because of the extreme disparity between the rich and the poor at the time. Since then, the term social justice has adapted to include the environment, race, gender, and other causes and manifestations of inequality with a focus on human rights and improving the lives of disadvantaged and marginalized groups.

The workshop is designed to explore the purpose, meaning, context, history and problems of social justice through collage making, discussion, examination of other artists’ work, and hearing from dynamic speakers who make and curate social justice collage. Participants will engage with each other via Slack and meet once a week on Zoom for four weeks. The workshop faculty is Elaine Tassy, Gerald Leavell, Rachel Monique Walker, and G.E. Vogt.

Elaine Tassy sees social justice collage-making “as a way to participate in the cry for justice for victims in some small way, and to process my feelings around their victimization at the same time.” During the workshop, she will speak about her experience making social justice collage and present, Say Their Names, an interactive art experience that documents and reimagines the police killings of Black people. She will invite participants to contribute to this project by creating context for one of the figures.

Gerald Leavell writes, “Social justice, to me, begins with self-reflection. Honest, brave, and compassionate self-reflection.” Gerald Leavell will speak about artists who are currently using collage to make an impact and lead a collage making session.

For Rachel Monique Walker, social justice is “a form of living justice, where action is taken to counter oppressions and restore rightful respect to people who are dehumanized by our systems.” Walker’s vision board exercise will give participants a chance to reflect on their previous engagement with the idea of social justice, consider where they are headed with social justice in the future, and make a collage in response to these insights.

G.E. Vogt will lead a presentation of their own voyage of learning about the history of political collage. They write, “Art is one of the most powerful forms of expressing, or bringing attention to the different forms of social inequality, thereby acting as a catalyst to motivate the necessary work for social justice.”

Artists in the workshop will work alongside each other to conceptualize, contextualize, and create social justice-themed collages. At the end of the workshop, everyone will be invited to have one of their collages included in the May 2021 exhibition at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice along with Elaine Tassy’s piece, Say Their Names.

WHO IS THIS FOR?
The workshop is intended for self-motivated artists, at any stage in their career, who want to develop a practice of making artwork in response to social injustice. The workshop focuses on creating collage that addresses modern issues and current political concerns. The workshop is open to artists anywhere in the world.

WORKSHOP LOGISTICS
Dates: March 18th to April 14th

Participants will engage via an online platform through group discussions. A two-hour virtual meeting will be held on each Saturday from 2-4PM EST.

COST
The cost of the Social Justice Collage Workshop is $350; however, no artist will be turned away for lack of funds and the organizers will work with artists to build a financial aid package. The Social Justice Collage Workshop is limited to 12 artists.

HOW TO APPLY
Submit your application HERE.

APPLICATION PROCESS
The submission process will ask you for: Contact information; Artist Bio (50-250 words); Artist Statement of Practice (50-300 words); 5-7 images of artwork; a statement of expectations; and ask you some questions about your work and financial needs. Applications are reviewed by the faculty. Space is extremely limited; however, the applications of qualified artists are kept on file and those artists will be invited to future workshops, if they wish.

CALENDAR
Deadline to apply: March 13, 2021
Notification to artists: March 15, 2021
Workshop dates: March 18-April 14, 2021

QUESTIONS
If you have questions, send an email HERE.

Deadline: 13 March 2021
Final Notification no later than 15 March 2021