Not a Drill
“Not a Drill” explores our increased exposure to gun violence and the alarming lack of measurable gun reform in the United States. It is obvious that the agencies and systems meant to protect us are failing. As an artist and mother of two school-aged children, I feel compelled to respond to these atrocities and lack of action because gun violence devastates all people at personal, community, state, and national levels. “Not a Drill” opens up visceral conversations about the fragility of life. In doing so, I arm individuals and communities with resources, solidarity, and a voice, rather than weapons.
“Not a Drill” includes community involvement with the schools devastated by the 2022 shooting in Uvalde, Texas at Robb Elementary and the 2018 shooting in Santa Fe, Texas at Santa Fe High School. Since 2022, I have been fostering relationships with Santa Fe Ten Memorial and LivesRobbed to witness and understand the full impact of these massacres and the role of art to help communities process grief, establish connection, and enact change. I will continue to work with these nonprofits and others to research and develop the various bodies of work within this larger project.
Iconographically, the work appropriates the American flag and that image continues to naturally deepen and evolve as I install or employ it over time. For example, “Flesh and Blood,” pictures my elementary-aged children wrapped in the American flag printed on mylar emergency blankets. These thin blankets suggest the frailty and instability currently found in school protection and asks, “Who will protect America’s children?”
“Thoughts and Prayers,” documents through photography my body as it is repeatedly struck and engulfed by emergency blankets/flags. This fight has an impact not only on survivors and their families, but also on advocates and the larger affected communities.
“New Spelling,” a recent video of my two children begins with familiar words such as vote and flag, but quickly progresses into terms such as legislation, amendment and semi-automatic. The oral spelling test ends with my son reciting and my daughter spelling the names of K-12 massacres.
“Not a Drill,” is positioned within a larger conversation that is in one respect well established and the other only minimally explored. The politicized body as a site for art is long documented, yet the space inviting and inspired by children is not. There is a specific history of performance art and action from Latin American women, like Ana Mendieta, Regina Jose Galindo, Teresa Margolles and Gabriela Goder, using their body and the bodies of others to speak to social injustice, but there is a real lack of women artists creating socially engaged work from the maternal perspective either inspired by or in collaboration with children.
“Not a Drill,” enhances the visibility of contemporary feminist positions addressing the intersections of motherhood and socially engaged art and emphasizes the blurring of the private and public spheres by humanizing the overwhelming gun violence data by directly featuring children in the work. Domestic life and political life are now intertwined.
