If taking a collaborative stance in protesting ensures sustainability and longevity, how do we lay the groundwork for participation? In this episode of Radio Resistance, Wendy Red Star and De Nichols talk about how and why they use their creative work to connect with communities of ancestors and young people across time and place. They share thoughts on defining success by the ability to make, hold, and take space, as well as how important maintaining curiosity and setting strong boundaries are to the sense of adventure that gives them both purpose.
Wendy Red Star was raised on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana, and her work is informed both by her cultural heritage and her engagement with many forms of creative expression, including photography, sculpture, video, fiber arts, and performance. An avid researcher of archives and historical narratives, Red Star seeks to incorporate and recast her research, offering new and unexpected perspectives in work that is at once inquisitive, witty and unsettling. Red Star holds a BFA from Montana State University, Bozeman, and an MFA in sculpture from University of California, Los Angeles. She lives and works in Portland, OR.
De Nichols is a social impact designer, arts organizer, and community engagement specialist. Through her leadership with Design as Protest, De mobilizes designers and changemakers nationwide to develop creative approaches to the social, civic, and racial justice issues that matter most within communities. De is a 2020 Monument Lab Fellow and 2020 Loeb Fellow of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. She is also the author of an upcoming book, Art of Protest, with Bonnier UK and Candlewick publishers.
Radio Resistance assembles the voices of intersecting local and global agents of change. Artists featured in the exhibition Stories of Resistance are paired with figures from the past, present, and future of St. Louis, coming together to transmit messages of dissent. A selection from their discussion can be found on St. Louis on the Air, the noontime talk program hosted by Sarah Fenske on St. Louis Public Radio, with the full episode also available in a listening station at CAM, and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Radio Resistance is co-produced by Michelle Dezember, Director of Learning and Engagement, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Chief Curator, and Misa Jeffereis, Assistant Curator. Sound design and editing by Sean Pierce.