Revolutionary letter #2 - Diane Di Prima
The value of an individual life a credo they taught us
to instill fear, and inaction, ‘you only live once’
a fog in our eyes, we are
endless as the sea, not separate, we die
a million times a day, we are born
a million times, each breath life and death:
get up, put on your shoes, get
started, someone will finish
Revolutionary Letters is an ongoing conversation on topics relating to sexual violence. Through literature, (audio)visual arts and artistic practice we want to build a safe space to read, talk and think on a subject that touches both personal experience and collective structures.
Sexual violence is often met with silence. Too often it is suffered in silence, and when we do find the words to talk about it, the discourse often tends to either legal, or confessional language. The much needed, objective language of law and the raw, fragile language of experience both create a context for the conversation to start. Revolutionary Letters wants to continue that conversation by opening up a space in between.
We believe artistic representations can be a means to find a language that encompasses the hurt, fragility, complexities and obstacles concerning all forms of sexual violence.
Ranging from the violation of physical boundaries to invisible structures, sexual violence consists of a multitude of different experiences, which means that the term has to be constantly redefined.
Through the form of a google docs thread - symbolizing eternal work in progress - we want to acknowledge this ongoing effort of redefining.
Revolutionary Letters is an artistic project that hopes to construct a collective, inclusive platform for new narratives.