The Art of Activism

October 02, 2009

"The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing becomes as political an act as speaking out."

When human rights activist and filmmaker Jen Marlowe first read those words by Arundhati Roy, a writer and political activist from India, it marked a turning point in her life.

"My starting point as an activist, as a writer, as a filmmaker, as a human being is this point of connection between seeing and speaking out and taking action," said Marlowe, who spoke at the Martin Institute on Wednesday, September 30.

In her presentation entitled "Art as Activism," Marlowe discussed her journey as an activist and the role art and media play in changing the world.

Throughout her presentation Marlowe showed clips of other political activists speaking which have motivated her, including Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad.

In a tribute to Rachel Corrie, an American activist killed by Israel Defense Forces on the Gaza Strip, Hammad recited in her poem On the Brink Of...:

"And how do I tell American youth that popular culture means nothing to justice and everything to keeping them numb to the world?"

"That statement begs the question, who would want to keep us numb and why?" Marlowe said.

"I would argue we don't have a free media in this country. We have a corporate media...the last thing they want is an awake, conscious public who is seeing and who is reacting and responding. If they keep us numb maybe we'll be more likely to be content with going to the mall and continuing to shop," Marlowe said.

That is the biggest but most basic challenge people in today's world face Marlowe said. "How do we resist this attempt to keep us numb and how do we truly work on ‘seeing' because like Arundhati Roy said, once we see, we can't ‘unsee.'"

As a Jewish American, Marlowe said she grew up with a certain narrative about Israelis. "I never really thought about it or questioned it."

That narrative quickly changed when, in 1997, she spent a year in Jerusalem for a fellowship she had received.

"It was maybe my second day I went to the old city and I started walking around and talking to Palestinian merchants," said Marlowe. For the first time, she began to hear about the reality of Palestinian life and the violence that surrounded them all of their lives.

"I didn't know. Now I know. How am I going to respond?" Those three statements, which echoed in her mind, have been the underlying force behind all of her work since then she explained.

Her work, which has taken her to Darfur, Eastern Chad, Afghanistan, India, and more, has sought to "amplify" the voices of natives in those countries.

Marlowe first discovered the power of art in a project in which she filmed messages from Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Gaza and showed them to youth in Israel, who would in turn record messages in response. The project grew beyond an opportunity for youth to trade messages and began to serve as a way for them to document their challenging lives and impose change.

Another project, Darfur Diaries: Message from Home, allowed the people in Darfur to speak for themselves about their experiences, their fears, and their hopes for the future. Marlowe, who worked with two other independent filmmakers on the documentary, was inspired to go to Darfur after monitoring the worsening political and humanitarian crisis there and recognizing that the mainstream media offered marginal and inadequate coverage.

Creating a space for truly "seeing" is what Marlowe described to be the ultimate goal in her work and in her life. "It's much more complex than a tidy slogan about making a difference and one thing I resist in my work is ‘spoon-fed' activism," said Marlowe.

Rather than leaving a screening of one of her films and signing a petition, Marlowe hopes her films leave audiences asking more questions.

"I think I once surprised a boy in a class I was speaking to," explained Marlowe.

"I believe he thought he was challenging me by asking ‘why should I care about what's happening in Darfur? There are problems in my own community and in my own back yard. Shouldn't that be what I get involved in?'"

"I said great. I think he was surprised by my response. I said if seeing my film and having this discussion is inspiring you to get involved in what's happening in your own back yard then that is fantastic. You are helping to make a change."

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