Artivism
Lots of folks who are passionate about art and creativity are also passionate about the world around them. The posts you’ll find here cover the ground where art and activism meet.

Hello Internet: Painting the Renewable Energy Renaissance
Eva Avenue grapples with climate change anxiety and visualizes the world becoming healthy again in her painting inspired by Thomas Hart Benton’s “Instruments of Power.”
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Chasing Rights, Missing Flights: Making Abortion Accessible Against All Odds
What it’s like to be a Patient Navigator for abortion services: “It’s post-Roe, 2022. I’m on a trip from Texas to New Mexico, accompanying 15 people seeking abortion, one a minor. The clinic forgets to tell us to buy her mom a ticket, and the two get separated at the airport. Mother sobbing, daughter stone-faced and angry. I’m exhausted.”
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A Body of Many Bodies Flowing with sonic collaboration along the Rio Grande
In There Must Be Other Names For The River, we ask ourselves about our personal and structural relationships with the drying river that today we call the Rio Grande. In this sound performance, listeners hear the voices of six singers channeling the river. Each singer represents a point where streamflow data have been collected from the 1970s to now and into possible futures.
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Nothing Is Wasted A zine distro gets new digs and lands in a new literary hub
Billy McCall interviews Charissa Lucille about closing, then reopening Wasted Ink Zine Distro: “I have emotional whiplash from feeling so down — and then feeling so extremely excited and hopeful. So many community members stepped in and helped.”
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Heading Southwestness Editor/publisher Samantha Anne Carrillo on hyping the hyperlocal and rejecting boredom in her own indie publication
Southwestness publisher/editor Samatha Anne Carrillo shares the worldview and inspirations that drive her work: “In the real world, facts exist and science is real. … Since Southwestness is my own site, I have the freedom to report on our corner of the world based on my own perception of the world. There’s no question that this perception is still evolving and thank goodness for that!”
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Signs of the Times Billy McCall tracks the shifting social acceptability of political signage
Understanding social acceptability is important when creating art in the public sphere, such as political signs, street art and graffiti. Every time and place has its own set of rules.
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Clown Fish of the Lit Ecosystem Lee Francis of Red Planet Books & Comics on finding his niche
Entrepreneur Lee Francis is the “Indiginerd” mastermind behind Indigenous Comic Con (aka IndigiPop X) and Red Planet Books & Comics. Dr. Francis dishes on cultivating Indiginerds, supporting community and how his niche bookstore thrives in the retail ocean.
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Not to Be Dramatic, But It’s Time to Save Democracy Now, Okay? Up-to-date guidance and links aplenty to help you make your vote count
We’ve got to focus. We are at a point before the election where the actions of the next few weeks have the potential to impact our lives — and the lives of immigrants, children and the disenfranchised, as well as our allies and others around the world — for years to come.
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Knowing the World Through Art: Inspired by Iranian Illustrators
For the last few years, I kept checking for accessible foreign editions of some of these books. I reached out directly to Reza Dalvand, the illustrator of Ace, who put me in touch with his publisher in Iran.
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Reflecting Me: Movement for Mercy and Where Change Begins
Movement for Mercy is a live dance performance which honors the intersections of experiences and shared history throughout our community.
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Circumstantially Free
“Zahra, where is that from…oh, did you know that Iraq invaded Kuwait?” “Yes, I was there.” He asked what my thoughts about the Taliban were, twice.
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Full Circle
The problem isn’t that our laws are flawed (even though they are). The problem is that we care only to the degree that it won’t be an inconvenience or mess with our comfort…or even worse, our narratives. This is our problem.
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Join Us to Supercharge Your Vote: A Livestream Event!
We’ve been living through such extreme weirdness that otherwise easy civic activities like voting and census-taking can somehow fall between the cracks — so we’re hosting this virtual event to help get you supercharged!
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PyraGuide: Supercharge Your Vote! Steps and resources to get registered and register others
It goes without saying there’s a lot riding on the November 2020 election and change isn’t gonna happen on its own. We are going to have to hit this one hard, folks! Here are some tips and resources for getting ‘er done.
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Resource List: Mental and Financial Health During COVID-19
We thought it would be helpful to periodically summarize what’s out there to calm the storm of information that seems to be swirling around us. So here is a resource list focusing on mental health, wellness and financial assistance to help soften the impact of COVID on all our lives.
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Support Arts Hub’s Artist Relief Fund
Hey arts-loving friends! Albuquerque’s Arts Hub is raising funds for artists impacted by the pandemic. Donate at their Facebook page or at their website at http://www.abqartshub.com/relief
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