ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #94 | Page 26

ART Habens
Onyinye Alheri
politics has in creative expression - every
piece I make is in some way informed by my
lived experience as a queer black woman
living in 21st century western society - yet I
can not help but question how identity
contributes to notions of distinction and
separateness. This is something I still
struggle with. For I believe it is the
difference in each human being that makes
life so vibrant, challenging and beautiful, yet
I loathe the fact that one is expected to
“identify” with their designators (be they
racial, economic, physical, etc) when we
know that all being is dynamic and ever
changing.
This is where there is a clash between
material and metaphysical. For in this life I
am a woman, black, bisexual, working class,
etc. But I know in my core that I have been
so many other types of human, animal or
mineral, and all of those existences
mattered just as much as this one. All of
those lives led to the being that I am now,
inhabiting this particular flesh. However, as I
am someone who has battled and continues
to battle intersecting oppression, it is
important for me to document the life lived
in this flesh for others who share those
identities; to let them know that they are
not crazy, not alone and not doomed and
that they too belong.
Special Issue
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