STREET LEVEL 2017: Michael Anthony Garcia
Title
Tempest - Tost
Artist
Michael Anthony Garcia
Date Performed
October 20, 2017 at 11th Street Sculpture Garden October 21, 2017 at Humboldt Park
Photo Credit
© Sandra Steinbrecher 2017
Artist Statement
Tempest-Tost is a corporeal embodiment of the shift being experienced by many People of Color in the US at this time, as our emotions and rational examination of the current political situation start to evolve into a more physical manifestation. With our bodies always being at the center of politics, we are coming full circle back from emotions of sadness, rage, and disgust and putting those same bodies back to the forefront of our expression. In particular, as the Latinx community is gaining a deeper understanding of what the African American community has experienced for the whole of their existence here in the US, we are taking to the streets in greater numbers to protest shifts in our world such as the cancellation of DACA, mass deportations, and degradation of language in our national politics that does not bode well for our specific community or nation as a whole. Tempest-Tost focuses attention on the exploitation of the brown body within a caricature of the Statue of Liberty, both of whom have been bastardized by capitalism. It is a reclamation of culture, pride, power, our physical forms and the words inscribed at the base of the Statute of Liberty in Emma Lazarus' The New Colossus poem, "...Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
About This Project
WAC was proud to partner with Threewalls for its inaugural performance series for the STREET LEVEL Festival; performances took place both at Columbia College Chicago and in Threewalls’ locations throughout the city.
Performance Curator: Jeffreen Hayes, Executive Director Threewalls
Co-Producers: Jeffreen Hayes, Executive Director Threewalls and Neysa Page Lieberman, Executive Director Columbia College DEPS
Project Manager: Regina Martinez, Artist & Artistic Engagement Associate, Threewalls
Assistant Project Manager: Sydney Pacha
Site Manager: Connie Stanley
Special thanks to Chicago Community Trust