Words I couldn’t say
MFA Thesis Exhibition “Two Three”Boston University
May 2017
The refusal to listen to another person, to see the world from their point of view, is an act of apathy. This indifference is built on the idea that because someone else is different, they are unknowable. If they are unknowable then we don’t have to engage, we don’t have to treat them as part of humanity. This dichotomy, “us” and “them,” allows us put up walls, make excuses and ignore injustices.
The solution to this dichotomy is found in the collective “we”. Through “Words I couldn’t say,” I seek to challenge my viewers to stop for a moment and listen.
Listen to stories of those who have experienced racial injustice and in turn reflect on their own privilege, the source for these continuing injustices. I seek that the audience be confronted with the reality of others, hearing experience different from their own and reflecting on the affects of their privilege, the affects of apathy. By acknowledging this apathy, empathy is born.
Together “we” can create an active difference in the lives of those facing injustice. The first step towards equality begins by listening.
