Transcript:

I think differently about the roles of the artist and the activist and the designer because the reward structure is totally different. And the motivation, too. The artist makes art in good faith, as a meditation on the world as it is. The activist tries to change the world, defending the most vulnerable against the unjust. And the designer allows other people to define the problem the way that they see it, and if I agree with it, well, then I act as a designer with my labor in support of that.

And even though they are in orbit of the same sense of place and the same sense of belonging and the same sense of otherness, how I behave as an artist is in my relentless self. How I behave as an activist is with my relentless self. And how I behave as a designer is as a person who is hoping to transmit a very useful and valuable idea to a group of people or an audience, and that audience may or may not be mine.

Tools. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons why the word tools is a good idea for this exhibit. But I've settled on this story for you. When we confront injustice in our youth, we use our bodies. We fight, we scream, we gather, and we lay our bodies in front of the fascist wheels. Our bodies, and our very existence stand in fierce opposition with the wrongdoing. Well, we use them for the right action. And we do this because we are young and we are strong. As we age, the disgust and the anger still persist. They're still there, but our bodies become more vulnerable to time and disease and responsibility. But hopefully, for all the years of fighting, we become more cunning, more clever, smarter. And in the absence of my young body, I fight with a different kind of apparatus. For me, it's tools, tools like language, tools like printing presses, tools like my mind that I put into high gear and action when needed.

The last year has been strange, strange in my role as a parent, strange in my role as a designer, as an activist. I have to say this, I think everybody gets to respond to this last year in the way that they want to or have to. Me talking about my last year, at one point, I drank too much. So I cut it out. At one point, I felt too much. So I thought instead. At one point, I thought too much. So I felt instead. There's no understanding what this much isolation can do to a person. There's no understanding what the lack of free movement can do. My way of coping has been a bit of a trap. Be productive. Write everything, do everything, be everything, see everything, feel everything.

And so I've been working a lot, and that work leads to more work, and that work leads to more work. I have not perfected napping technology, but I have been able to take whole days off for my wellness or for my sanity or for my safety. But I will say this, I'm only going to spin around this place this way, one time like this. And if I'm able, and if I'm with it and focused, I'm going to do everything I can to change this atmosphere, to change this environment, to change the way that this place works, to suit the needs of the people who I care about and the people who are most vulnerable. It's a good time to want to do better. And if you have the wherewithal, if you have the skill, and if you have the opportunity, and if you have the resources, then do it. And if not, sit tight. Help is on the way.