Open letter to Artis
In response to statement made on June 5th 2020
Dear Artis,
It so happens that I exist nearby a particular intersection, and sometimes when I open my eyes I find you within my field of vision. Today is one of those days. I saw you, and you were doing something that hurt me. This letter is self defense.
Maybe I wouldn’t write this if you weren’t an arts organization. Or if you weren’t based in NYC. Or if you didn’t have family in Israel. Or if you weren’t working with people I know. Or if you weren’t working with artists who grew up around where I grew up. Or if you weren’t claiming to be reflective. You are all of these things so here we are.
When you send out a statement “in solidarity,” I expect you to draw the obvious connections between George Floyd’s murder by the hands of U.S. police on 05/25 and Eyad Hallaq’s murder by the hands of Israeli police on 05/30. Neither are unusual incidents in the landscapes and histories that you and I are a part of.
When you share resources about institutionalized racism, anti-black violence, policing, and incarceration, I expect you to include resources that address how all of these issues are manifest in occupied Palestine / Israel. This is where you send artists on research trips. These are the territories the artists that you support inhabit.
When you “stand in support of people and organizations around you doing the urgent work,“ I expect you to actually do something meaningful yourselves. Or at least, provide material support to those who do.
Organization-you and organism-me have just a little bit too much in common. You are too close to my own experience to ignore. As distant relatives, I need to tell you that what you are doing is erasing one injustice under the guise of addressing another. Not to mention that these all overlap. Despite how painful it is for me to write all of this, I am scared that ignoring you will be even worse.
The ending to this letter is the space where you and I envision how we can challenge ourselves, what we can do better, and the ways in which we change.
Or Zubalsky
