CONCEPTS HAVE TEETH

I am not made out of leather, and so I will not wrinkle or wear from being worn on human feet, the way a real pair of leather boots might wrinkle and wear.

However, I’m made of pixels and composite images, which means I can shift and change in a way my real-life counterparts cannot!

Visit Unbelongings

Here the artist mentions unbelongings in the title of the work to make a statement about the feeling of belonging and unbelonging to a place or many places.

I, as a digital pair of boots, am not sure where I belong!

Do I only belong in the virtual world?

This site was designed to encourage a non-linear exploration of these creative works and their inspirations.

The phrase ‘concepts have teeth’ comes from Mohawk political anthropologist Audra Simpson.

She is writing about the effect of historical perceptibility, vision systems and erasures on power relations and responsibilities in the present. Indigenous and other oppressed and under-represented peoples are working to un-mute deep histories and ways of knowing which have the capacity to enact change and to short-circuit time, amplifying voices, shaping new technologies and renewing spaces in the present.

The capacity of a concept to jump up and bite you is a bodily reminder of the radical change that can happen through moving ideas and material practices in surprising and challenging ways across borders and disciplines. It also lets us know that how we think and what we bring to bear in the world has consequences, responsibilities and ramifications long past the moment of inception.

Ideas are like seeds and like time bombs.

read Simpson, “Mohawk Inturruptus”

The artists on this site come from many different backgrounds, all around the world. Something they all have in common is a desire to self-define their experiences through art and creativity.

Each artist has come up with a way to connect their personal stories and struggles to the “big picture” ideas that affect them.

From the reclamation of cultural knowledge,

Visit Yaahpittahsohkohto

to asserting identity against institutional definition,

Trinity Art Group Webspace

to correcting what the history books got wrong,

Visit Unbelongings

These works all have something important to say.