Hi everyone, here is a creation by the lovely Jennifer Weigel. She uses her art to bring the topic of oppression to the public eye. Most of us experience oppression in one form or another; yet often times this goes unheard and is merely shoved under the rug. This project was created to bring the real stories and experiences of oppression to the forefront, so that we may shed a light on its implications in our culture and our lives.

Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, video and writing. Much of her work touches on themes of beauty, identity (especially gender identity), memory & forgetting, and institutional critique. Weigel’s art has been exhibited nationally in all 50 states and has won numerous awards.

She says about her creation, “I think it is important to raise awareness of injustices faced, both in public and private. People are doing more to stand up against oppression as it becomes more widely known. We cannot forget those challenges faced behind closed doors at home as well.”

Mahalo Jennifer for including us all in your creations. I believe that these images are especially pertinent in these times of struggle during the pandemic. Some questions that arise for me are, “how can we provide support for those that may not necessarily ask for it?” “How can we begin to understand the role that we ourselves play in continuing to silence these voices?” and “What needs to change within our society/culture so that more action is taken to dismantle oppression in organizations life as well as domestic life?”

Feel free to comment your own questions and insights below. I don’t pretend to have all or any of the answers to the questions that I posed above; but I believe asking them in the first place will get the wheels turning in my quest to understand the experiences of others and their experience with oppression.