On March 12, panelists gathered at Rockbridge Regional Library in Lexington to discuss how art, history and literature can contribute to social change.
The panel discussion was titled “Imagining a Better American Future: From Abolition to Science Fiction, and beyond.” It included several representatives of MidMountain—a nonprofit art collective based in Natural Bridge Station—and a Washington and a Lee University professor.
Paul Park, a fellow at MidMountain and a former English lecturer from Williams College, opened the discussion with his thoughts on utopian fiction. He outlined the history of the genre, which includes thinkers like Plato and Thomas More.
Park also addressed the work of Terry Bisson, a modern science fiction writer and activist. Bisson’s book “Fire on the Mountain” illustrates an alternate history where John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was successful, creating a utopian society in the American South.
“Terry and I had a long conversation about the importance of imagining utopias,” Park said. “There’s a kind of oppression when you can’t even imagine what a better world might look like.”
One of the panelists was Nneka Dennie, an assistant professor of history and core faculty in Africana Studies at Washington and Lee. She spoke about Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a woman who became the first Black female newspaper editor in North America, and compared historical Black freedom movements with modern efforts to fight discrimination.
“Even at this moment that’s really a massive setback politically, [Cary] is still saying, look, there’s still work to be done. We can’t just sit around talking about things. We need to do something too,” Dennie said.
Panelists also shared their artistic projects. Artists like xocean alexandre and Soleil Ouimet talked about how they combine nature and personal identity in their work. They use art to cope with societal problems and build community.
Ouimet said she has been working on a series of abstract paintings about her experiences with Hurricane Helene. “I’ve been doing … clear utopia painting that is giving me a lot of hope and reminding me of the importance of those heavy experiences and to provide storytelling, record-keeping of experiences,” Ouimet said.
Alexandre said her art combines various aspects of her identity.
“My work centers on transness and the intersections between being queer, being trans, being nonbinary and nature.”
She also said jewelry and clothing can tell stories about culture and identity.
“I’ve been working a lot with adornment and documentation and the parallels of how we express our joy, how we express our rituals, how we express our histories and our ancestors through passed-down rings and earrings and brooches and clothing,” alexandre said.
Harli Saxon, a musician and interdisciplinary artist, said artists have a responsibility to think about what lies ahead.
“I like to think that part of my job is making connections with the next generation so that they can begin to consider what their life is going to be like in the future.”
But Saxon said change can start small.
“The doing sometimes doesn’t always have to be this grand thing,” Saxon said. “We can start to create more joy and peace in our lives in spite of everything and hope that, in some universal karmic way, that it may be amplified out into the world around us.”
