Drawing Radical Futures

Drawing Radical Futures is an installation commissioned by the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center for the 2023 ArtNow biennial exhibition, titled “ArtNow: The Soul is a Wanderer”. Based on the poem A Map to the Next World by Joy Harjo, my piece includes two murals and an interactive drawing exercise which guides visitors as they draw a map to their future.

The work was installed in the Glenna and Richard Tanenbaum Learning Gallery, where visitors make concrete connections with contemporary art through activities inspired by the exhibitions on view.

Murals (Wall Drawings)

I was commissioned to create two large murals illustrating the ideas in the exhibition. Portal to the Future is a cosmic ladder that invites the audience into an abstract, creative space. The ladder is a bridge between the present and the future, which is filled with color and pattern. This pattern is based on an ancestral Wayuu pattern that represents animal footprints and a Japanese pattern depicting an arrow’s tail as it flies. To me, these ideas represent moving into the future.

The second mural is called Drawing Futures. It shows an enormous hand tracing a large portal on the wall. The hand is adorned with pattern and color, complimenting the first drawing. This hand is represents ancestral understanding, the way our choices create the future.

This illustration faces the tables, where people are invited to use the drawing exercise to create a map to their future.

Drawing Exercise

The Drawing Radical Futures exercise guides visitors as they draw a map to their future. They then cut and fold it into a small booklet. This activity is based on a line from Joy Harjo, “You must make your own map.”

In response to this, I write, “When you draw a line, you create a path. When that path makes a shape, it creates a portal. That portal leads to many possibilities. What shape is it? What is on the other side?”

Visitors could take their maps with them, or leave them to become part of a map library. This exercise is part of the Radical Drawing series and is co-written and published by Practice Practice.

Special Edition Print

OCAC commissioned a special edition of prints for the exhibition. The print shows an ancestral hand opening a portal to the future. I drew a unique portal on each print in bright blue.