I’ve been grappling with how to write this post. Like much of America, I’m angry, scared, and sad, and I’m trying to wade through fact, fiction, and rage bait designed to distract and confuse us. But what’s immediately clear to me is that this new administration is wasting no time targeting vulnerable groups. And although I am angry and scared, I recognize I am also afforded privileges as a white middle-class woman, and I cannot and will not sit quietly while a felon and his supporters systematically work to dismantle our social and political structures because of their own fear and hate.
When I envisioned Art with an Opinion in early 2018, I did not envision being directly political in my writing, but as I launch this blog in 2025, my stance has changed. Staying neutral is not an option. Art is intrinsically intertwined with politics, it is inherently political in and of itself, and it is a necessary instrument of dissent. And it will become even more important to use art as resistance over the next four years.
So, I want to say upfront in unequivocal terms that I stand with and for trans people. I stand with and for LGBTQIA+. I stand with and for immigrants. I stand with and for birthright citizens. I stand with and for women who want or need an abortion. I stand with and for BIPOC. I stand with and for every marginalized group that comes under threat over these next four years. I see you, I respect you, I honor you, and I love you. And I will do whatever I can to fight for you.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be featuring past and present trans and immigrant artists in America, along with institutions who work to share their stories and educate their communities on their history. I’ll be conducting my own research, but if you know anyone whose work you’d like to highlight, please pass it along – the more the merrier.
It’s hard to know how the next four years will unfold, or how the arts will be affected, or how museums may need to shift to better support their communities, but resistance has always existed, and we will continue fighting for an America worth believing in.
I’ll end with a quote from author Catarine Hancock: “and when darkness comes / if you cannot find the light / you must / become it”
Let’s all become the light.
Art with an Opinion 