Public Affairs Team Visits UMOCA

In March, the Public Affairs team had the opportunity to visit the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art to see the exhibits and participate in a team-building activity. Our communications and marketing intern, Sloan Cleverly, wrote about the experience.

Political movements begin as grassroots causes, ideas, and art. Art is a creative means of communication and a powerful tool for social and political change. As the viewer, art allows you to interact with each piece with your own previous experiences, ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and where you find yourself in the world at that moment. It allows you to create your own interpretation of what you see, as you currently are.

Our Wake Up Call For Our Freedoms is an art exhibit created in collaboration with the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, UMOCA, and the For Freedoms artists who are committed to creating a world of healing, listening, and justice.

Words cannot properly convey the power of this exhibit. The power is not just a visual interpretation but encourages viewer participation by allowing them to form a future where words create the social and political solutions our nation and the world need. This is done through physical calls to action on pieces of paper with statements like “Hope For,” “Healing To,” “Awaken To,” and “Freedom From.” Viewers may write the words or topic that completes each phrase for themselves on a piece of paper and leave it there for it to be added to the art piece. Reading the words people wrote, I was moved by the calls like “awaken to divine feminine” and “healing to health care workers,” but what I found more profound was the length of the wall covered in layers of paper, layers of solutions.

The exhibit also features a photograph of The For Freedom artists wearing cloaks that signify their allegiance to the movement and its mission. In the open space adjacent to the photograph are three cloaks suspended in midair that gracefully turn for your eye to capture the intricacies.

Moving directly to the right of this photograph is a room of posters, each with a different message and movement that I believe should be included in the decade of 2020’s time capsule. There are souvenir posters for visitors and you are able to download/print your favorites here. I have three of the posters in my office for daily inspiration.

Our organization is one that embraces our changing world, our nation’s challenges, and our community’s needs. We strive to give our community the health care, resources, and knowledge to take charge of their health and lead successful, fulfilling, and healthy lives. While also protecting and fighting to change the systems that build barriers.

Our Wake Up Call For Our Freedoms is not solely something to see. Rather, it is there to serve as a thought-provoking visual experience. The Salt Lake Tribune perfectly described this exhibit as “the power of art and the power of the people.” I had a range of emotions and thoughts as I moved through this exhibit but overall I left with a new sense of empowerment and support from artists who are working to better our communities and nation. Wake Up For Our Freedoms will be at the UMOCA through June 4, 2022.

For more information visit:

https://utahmoca.org/exhibition/for-freedoms/

https://forfreedoms.org/

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