From Silence Into Action: Artist Writing

"[A]nd what I most regretted were my silences,"
writes Audre Lorde in the essay from which this
course borrows its title. Asking what is at stake
in our writing, she continues, "[o]f what had I
ever been afraid?" Whether we write as ourselves
or in a fictional or poetic voice, within the
frame of our artworks, alongside them, or outside
of them altogether, this course is for
writing-where we will write and read, hear our own
voices and listen to one another as we cultivate
what it is we have to say. From photo captions to
poems, from artist statements to memoirs, from
journalisms to short fiction, critical essays,
mapping or mining the histories and ideas that
give our works their meanings, as artists we will
confront the fear of writing, of speaking, while
thinking about things that stop us from doing so,
whether personal or political (or both), and then,
DOING. What does it mean for us to do so in these
times? What is this transformation? How is writing
an action? In Lorde's words, "In the transformtion
of silence into language and action, it is vitally
necessary for each one of us to establish or
examine her function in that transformation and to
recognize her role as vital within that
transformation."