Documents of Resistance

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Documents of Resistance is an art/research/educational project that presents an intersectional view of art history through the art and activism of people of color. In this history there is no separation between politics and culture. Here protests organizing and studio time are seen as different means to achieve the same goal. Only this way can we see the emergence of a truly American avant garde. Documents of Resistance aims to give form to this avant garde, by bringing together the collective struggle and individual transformation of artists and communities of color between 1960 to the present time.

The project has been included in the book Art As Social Action: An introduction to the principles and practices of teaching social practice art, edited by Gregory Sholette, Chloë Bass, and Social Practice Queens, Allworth Press, 2018.

Documents of Resistance engages the public via various formats: exhibition, presenation, and workshop. Please email for more information on presenting the project at your insitution or alternative space.

Previous exhibitions include: Artist Responce, SMFA at Tufts, Boston, MA. Documents of Resistance—Our Time Loisaida Center, New York, NY. Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions are Connected, PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY  

Installation view of Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions Are Connected at the PS122 Project Space, New York, NY, 2020 © Antonio Serna
IMAGE (Left-Right):The DRUM SLATE, by the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (D.R.U.M.), 1970. Archive poster, offset print on paper, 23” x 30”; Detroit Revolutionary Black Workers Movement, 2020. Laminates, bead chain, duct tape, dimensions variable;(foreground): Archival documents related to the Detroit Revolutionary Black Workers Movement, dimensions variable. Installation at PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY, 2020
Installation view of Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions Are Connected at the PS122 Project Space, New York, NY, 2020 © Antonio Serna
IMAGE (Left-Right):The DRUM SLATE, by the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (D.R.U.M.), 1970. Archive poster, offset print on paper, 23” x 30”; Detroit Revolutionary Black Workers Movement, 2020. Digital print, 30" x 40";(right wall): Third World Liberation Front U.C. Berkeley (1969), 2020. Digital print, 30" x 40". Installation at PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY, 2020
Installation view of Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions Are Connected at the PS122 Project Space, New York, NY, 2020 © Antonio Serna
IMAGE (Left-Right):Detroit Revolutionary Black Workers Movement, 2020. Digital print, 30" x 40"; Third World Liberation Front U.C. Berkeley (1969), 2020. Digital print, 30" x 40". Installation at PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY, 2020
Installation view of Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions Are Connected at the PS122 Project Space, New York, NY, 2020 © Antonio Serna
IMAGE: Third World Liberation Movement San Francisco State College (1968-69)(triptych), 2020. Digital prints, 30" x 40" each. Installation at PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY, 2020
Detail: Third World Liberation Movement San Francisco State College (1968-69)
Image: Third World Liberation Movement San Francisco State College (1968-69)(triptych), 2020. Digital prints, 30" x 40" each. Installation at PS122 Project Studios, New York, NY, 2020

Our Time

Other installations include wheat-paste wall murals and a selection of timeline collages as in the exhibition at Loisaida Center in 2018, pictured below. The timelines cover the art intermixed with activism of artists of color and can be read chronologically and geographically, from top to bottom and left to right. 

OUR TIME: Documents of Resistance at the Loisaida Center, NYC 2018 © Antonio Serna
IMAGE:OUR TIME: Documents of Resistance at the Loisaida Center, New York, NY, 2018

Collective Timelines

Collective Timelines & Timeline Workshops were developed in order to facilitate a visual exploration of the context around this period (1960–present). Each Timeline covers a decade of resistance by artists and people of color. Workshop participants are encouraged to collaboratively research, share knowledge and personal stories related to this history, as well as collectively consider the importance of archives, memory, and historical.

Documents of Resistance Collective Timelines © Antonio Serna
Artists and Workers of Color Collective Timelines, II: The Cultural Wars (1980s/1990s) workshop with guestartist Todd Ayoung at Interference Archives, May 30–June 25, 2015
Documents of Resistance Collective Timelines © Antonio Serna
Artists and Workers of Color Collective Timelines, I: From Civil Rights to Artist Rights (1960s/70s) workshop at Triangle Association, January 24, 2015
Documents of Resistance © Antonio Serna
Documents of Resistance: Timelines Detail No.2, mounted digital print, 2016

Extra-Insitutional / Free School Workhops

These workshops provided an educational moment when institution or the state refuses or disregards the importance of educating thier audiences. Images below are from "Subtlties of Resistsance" at Free University NYC held during Kara Walkers' A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby by Creative Time. The workshops forcused on liberation struggles of peoples of color, including the pueto Rican workers struggle that took place on this old Dimino Sugar Factory, now a prime site of gentrification in Brooklyn.

Documents of Resistance at Free University NYC © Antonio Serna
“Subtleties of Resistance” Free University NYC workshops. July 5, 2014
Documents of Resistance at Free University NYC © Antonio Serna