On The Consequences of Hate Speech Art Exhibition

During the months of December and January, I had the privilege to participate in the group exhibition “On the Consequences of Hate Speech.” I contributed with the work “WordQuake: A Cartography of Hate Speech,” which juxtaposes maps of the Washington, DC, and Brasilia so as to visually posit 45's occupation of the presidential office as the epicenter of a hate speech catastrophe that is plaguing both countries. Words from Trump and Bolsonaro's pronouncements (in English and Portuguese) delineate the map. These words are drawn from Trump's and Bolsonaro’s exact pronouncements made publicly over the past few years.  

The artwork visually articulates how both presidents’ elocutions sanction violence. Such seemingly abstract language moves across the landscape, revealing often hidden socio-cultural processes, raising questions of whether one can identify the impact such seismic "hate speech waves” leave in our bodies and communities.

A catalog of the exhibition can be found here. A big THANK YOU to the Jewish Art Salon for putting this timely and pressing exhibition together!