If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution
If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution
Date
2017
Edition Size
unique
Media
Collage, Digital print, Hand-painting
Format
Artist Book
Dimensions
20 × 15 in
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Collection
Collection Development, Unique Books$ 2,800.00
Unavailable
View Collectors
Skidmore College
Book #1 in the series “If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution.”.
“If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution.”, is the title of a series of 12 large-scale unique books concerned with the liberation of the human body from oppressive social constructions like race, essentialist cultural identities, and dichotomous gender roles. In the series dance and the image of dancers are used as the utopian symbols of total freedom. The book’s structures and materials are meant to reflect and magnify the gestures of dance and creative play. The scale and sometimes oblique construction of the books, which contain gatefolds in various directions and numerous paging possibilities, requires the reader to dance around with the books activating tactile and choreographic readings.
The title, while typically attributed to but not actually used by Emma Goldman, does, in my and others’ interpretation, accurately and succinctly conveys her feelings about women not having their bodies or any creative behavior of same policed by men (or women) of any political persuasion. She describes the incident that catalyzed the phrase in her 1931 auto-biography “Living my Life”.
The series as a whole is an exploration of Spectrum Theory and Fractal Biology, two ontologies that I have developed to facilitate the necessary dissolution of non-sustainable binary, essentialist and fundamentalist thought.
This book shares the title “If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution.” with the series. It is a celebration of the diverse group of women who were elected to various public offices in 2017 during the midst of the neo-fascist Trump Regime in the United States of America.
The dancer depicted is a Raver who represents the original utopian intentions of Rave as exemplified by the PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) movement in the 1990s. PLUR Raves were intended to be safe spaces to dance, no alcohol, no smoking, no drugs (this aspect was not as common and did not last so long as Ecstasy culture quickly predominated the scene…), no sexual predation of any kind, and no policing of identity or dance steps. In the 1990s, thanks, in part, to the PLUR movement the feminist and queer concept of “Safe Spaces” was popularized to a larger ‘straight’ young white identified audience across the United States.
Texts in the book:
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“If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution.”
Paraphrased from the sentiments of Emma Goldman in her “Living my Life”, 1931
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“To every person who’s ever been singled out,
who’s ever been stigmatized,
who’s ever been the misfit,
who’s ever been the kid in the corner,
who’s ever needed someone to stand up for them,
when they didn’t have a voice of their own,
because there was no one else who was with them,
this one’s for you!”
Danica Roem, on November 7, 2017, after being the first transgender woman to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
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(This election has to prove nationwide that…)
Discrimination is a disqualifier. (D, Roem, as above)
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“As an out African American trans-identified woman, I know firsthand the feeling of being marginalized, left-out, thrown under the bus. Those days are over. We don’t just want a seat at the table—we want to set the table.”
Andrea Jenkins, – the first openly trans-gendered woman of color ever elected to public office in the United States of America. Elected as a Minneapolis City Councilperson on November 7, 2017.
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“Donald Trump, keep your hands off Seattle.”
Jenny Durkin, the first openly lesbian mayor of Seattle, elected Nov. 7, 2017.
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PLUR
(Peace, Love, Unity, Respect)
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The binary is an illusion.