RESET THE ALGORITHM

Season 1 Episode 18

In this episode of Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors sits down with Iranian artist Shahrzad Changalvaee, to explore the role of art in the act of resistance under oppressive powers. Shahrzad shares her background and the experience of realizing one is an artist under the limiting and oppressive demands of the Iranian government during her childhood. In her early years as an artist, she was taught that "limitations beget creativity", and while there is value in those words for many of us who forsake our everyday freedom of expression, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss the fortitude one must cultivate in order to question the sources that offer the words we internalize as artists, as an important step to individuation and independent expression, especially when art inevitably finds its way to becoming itself an act of resistance. Explore the use of language, in art and beyond, Patrisse and Shahrzad emphasize the power of the artist to build coalition, change, abolitionist practices and challenge the regimes that seek to silence or appropriate the artistic voice. Being an artist from Iran, under a restrictive government, may have been Shahrzad's beginnings, but in her work, she revolutionized her self expression and found the power of her voice and ability to create for not only herself, but the culture she wants to celebrate. In this episode, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss how background and cultural identity play, effect, and cultivate an artist's identity, and the deeply personal journey of finding mediums and language to ensure that the perception of the art, matches its intent; "The artist is like a shapeshifter. The artist is the through line." Using collage, metal sculpture, photography and beyond, Shahrzad offers her art and story to us as itself an act of resistance, and reminds us that while limitations may present opportunity, the language we use both within ourselves and how we choose to express our unique perspective to others, is truly the choice that translates the most healing and revolutionary power, right from the source.

7.9.2024
50 MIN
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5.28.2024
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41 MINS

Season 1 Episode 20

This week on Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors joins a discussion of heritage, art and the resistance of reimagination with artists and mother-son duo, Shahla Dorriz and alexandre ali reza dorriz. "You're the only person in the world who could get my mom and I in a room together to do a podcast of all things”, ali reza says to Patrisse… and while that may be true, we are so grateful they came to chat. This episode is an authentic reminder of the importance of personal expression in conjunction with legacy, and how the representation of heritage can transform future generations through art. Shahla, a fashion designer and creative consultant, shares her journey to finding her most authentic artistic medium through fashion, and the importance of the multi-generational approach to her work that centers the inclusion of her Iranian heritage, often in collaboration with her son. Ali Reza, an artist with a research-based practice, sheds light both on his own work with Crenshaw Dairy Mart in Los Angeles, and his work in creating localized hubs for economic, artistic and agricultural autonomy for his community, but on the awe and inspiration instilled in him through both his own experience of his artistic practice and in the one that has been nurtured between himself and his mother. In conversation, the trio explore the waters of storytelling through fabric, the influence of the duo's Iranian heritage on their work, and both the challenges and rewards that arise when one sets an intention to preserve cultural design and promote diverse, unique perspectives within the fashion industry. This mother-son duo are an impactful showcase of how divergent ideas can curate something beautiful, created through that unique channel that each of us has access to; of how that channel becomes ever more powerful the more honest and collaborative we open ourselves to be. This episode reminds us all that artists have the ability to challenge oppressive systems, to create in a way that reminds consumers of times past from which they have the opportunity to learn, and that in embracing ourselves and the roots from which we grew, we become unshakably planted in our identity. "Value your work. If you know what you're working on and if you see that work as valuable, it is valuable."