ICAAD's ARTivism initiative launched in 2020 to inspire greater public awareness and social action through the arts. Our inaugural Artivist is lawyer Harbani Ahuja, whose virtual public arts project Dicta explores the gap between law and justice through blackout poetry of US Supreme Court decisions. We brought on 5 new Artivists from around the world in 2022 - your support will allow us to create public art projects for each artist to share their work with the world and advance social justice.
ICAAD's ARTivism project emerged out of the need to find creative ways to advance social justice among the general public. We began by working with inaugural artist Harbani Ahuja to make the law more accessible. Because the law is so complex, people often assume it is correct and just - but the reality is more complex. Through her Dicta poetry collection, Harbani uses art as a tool to teach us about how legal systems have often been used as systems of oppression throughout U.S. history.
Harbani's series highlights the gap between law and justice across human rights themes including Women's Rights, the Rights of Black People, and Immigrant Rights. Her work is available online through an interactive gallery, and she engages in public events to connect her poems to a wide audience. Our 5 new emerging and underrepresented Artivists are building respective collections on human rights issues of importance to them, which will be shared widely to support human rights and arts literacy.
The Dicta exhibit is already supporting a deeper understanding of the timelessness of human rights issues, and the importance of engaging in activism. With our additional Artivists working on their collections, our program seeks to build a community of creatives and activists that are using art to challenge harmful narratives and build solidarity. We also hope to partner with organizations and firms that believe investing in the arts is a powerful tool to promote social justice.
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