Angie Eng - Making Change Through Socially Engaged Art

 

Angie Eng with her exhibit, "Magnetizing Mandala" (courtesy of https://photos.prairiemountainmedia.com)

Right before spring break at Sacramento State, I was able to attend an artist lecture given by Angie Eng. Angie Eng is an artist that creates what she calls "socially engaged art." She defines socially engaged art as a "creative system to engage the community in a dialogue." It is an artform that is often collaborative or participatory, and the participants themselves are considered the artistic medium. According to her website, https://angieeng.com, she also works with conceptual art and time-based media. She has over 20 years of artistic experience and is dedicated to making work about social justice. 

Angie Eng, "This Land is My Land," "Touch" exhibition at the Dairy Arts Center, 2019

One of Angie Eng's works that she presented is "This Land is My Land." It was exhibited at the Dairy Arts Center in 2019 and revolves around what it means to be American through different personal perspectives. Angie recorded poems written by participants from different backgrounds that revolved around their stories and experiences of living in America. She then cut the American flag into several pieces, and painted on images that were relevant to the author's poem. The images were made with conductive paint so that when viewers touched the image, it would play the author's poem through a pair of headphones. I found this work to be really interesting and creative, because it not only allows viewers to hear the experiences of people with different backgrounds, but it creates a sense of personal closeness through the act of touching the image. 

Angie Eng, "Right On!" a social justice art walk, 2023

My personal favorite work that Angie Eng presented was a social justice art walk titled "Right On!" This project started when Angie Eng began painting plaques with different skin tone colors and placing them around the city. Each plaque features a specific date from landmark court cases dealing with issues of discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, ability, or class. Each plaque has a QR code attached to it, and when scanned, brings up information about the case. These plaques were placed in public spaces, but Angie Eng took it a step further by organizing a social justice art walk in Boulder, Colorado. For the art walk, participants wore shirts with an image of the plaque on the front, and the QR code on the back. Participants walked through the city silently to bring attention to the rise in Asian hate crimes and racial discrimination. I found this project to be very moving; it is beautiful to see a community come together to fight injustice, and it is a creative and powerful way to educate the public on issues our country has been facing for decades.

I was very curious where Angie finds participants for her collaborative works, so I asked her what this process looks like for her. She explained that it involves a lot of outreach, meaning she spends a lot of time reaching out to different organizations and institutions. She does a lot of networking and has family members who are also heavily involved in the community, which widens her resources for finding people to collaborate with. As a student who sometimes feels separated from my local community, it is inspiring to see the amount of people Angie is able to reach with her work. 

For those who are interested, Angie Eng has organized another art walk for the "Right On!" project to take place in Sacramento on March 25th, 2023 from 12pm to 2pm starting at Robert Matsui Courthouse. I am excited that this project has made its way to Sacramento, and I would be honored to have Angie Eng join us here at Sacramento State should she become a professor here. It is clear to see that the projects she is apart of create a deeper sense of community.