Empathy, Fantasy, and the Power of Protest: A Conversation with Chitra Ganesh by Erica Cardwell for Hyperallergic
Radical embodiment is a disorienting double negative for people of color. The words “radical” and “embodiment” bump into one another as each aggressively attempts to proclaim singularity. Eventually they will fuse, producing the inevitable overlap of a racialized identity. To attempt to simply live collides with daily efforts to live wholly. As Melissa Harris-Perry has written, “One cannot stand up straight in a crooked room.” For persecuted bodies, oppression goes hand in hand with survival. Therefore, radicalism must exist beyond protest; life must thrive beyond political warfare. The ability to fantasize and imagine other worlds could bring about authentic living.
Chitra Ganesh, “Action Plan” (2015), acrylic, hair, rubber, metal (drain), digital print on canvas, 60 x 48 in (image courtesy the artist and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco)