So That I May Not Be Hidden

Tailored to students who are children of refugees, this hands-on art workshop will feature writing prompts and lead to the creation of words and phrases that speak to the immigrant experience. These fragments of anonymous stories will be projected in cityscapes and suburban communities where they might not be expected, such as affluent neighborhoods with few African residents. Prompts will be tailored to elicit personal and poetic responses from workshop participants and may include phrases such as “when I cover myself I…” “when I uncover myself I…” “when I wake up I…” “what came first was…” “what is last is…” The writing generated in the workshop is meant to be specific to each participant’s experience of being alive, yet universal enough to speak to shared human experience across cultures. The writing will be projected in English, Somali, KiSwahili and other languages across homes, schools, government offices and churches throughout the Midwest during specifically advertised times.

Presenter:

Tanya Hartman

Tanya Hartman teaches painting and drawing as an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Art. Her work is about family upheaval, memory, and its translation into words. Hartman attempts to bridge the gap between what is perceived as a book and what is perceived as a piece of visual art. She fuses prose that is narrative with images that are visual to create an entity that is simultaneously a story and an image yet not purely either of the two. She brings the expansive possibilities inherent in oil painting together with less traditional techniques such as stenciling, stitching and stippling to create her own artistic sense of place.