Film, An American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

[Rosa Naparstek]

Film Showing: Thursday, June 16, 6pm: The Penthouse Gallery, 10 Fort Washington Ave. between 159 & 160th.Sts.

Exhibit: June 5-June 30, same location. Contact: [e-mail]  Thank you., Rosa

Dear Friends,

I am showing the award winning documentary, An American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs  in conjunction with my "...what is my function?" installation/exhibit. I have used texts from her on "we need to grow our souls", along with material from the Pathwork of Self-Transformation. For those of you, in the 'hood, city or country who missed the opening reception of the installation/exhibit, you can still see it and the  film at the same venue this coming Thursday, June 16, at 6PM at the Rio Penthouse Gallery, 10 Fort Washington Ave. (tween 159/160 Sts.) NYC.
(see the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JvyZtNA4CU)

I am taking this opportunity to include my Artist Statement and brief comments about Grace and the Pathwork Lectures.

Rio Penthouse Gallery, June 5-June 30, 2016, Film: Thursday, June 16 6pm

 

“…what is my function?” Rosa Naparstek

I work with found objects, the ordinary “things” of our daily lives thrown away or forgotten, placed with what we may hold dear to explore both the “ordering of things”—how we attach meaning to “random” juxtaposition of objects—and “the order of things”—looking at our inner landscapes for the emotional roots of the world we create personally and politically.

 

I am interested in the connection between art (the aesthetic experience) and its  Circles of Engagement, a community building process, to allow participants to explore their own feelings and deepen connections with one another. I consider myself an activist, although not in the usual sense of the word.

 

“…what is my function?” is a tribute to the integrity and unity of different spiritual and political paths. It is being held in conjunction with Mixed Metaphors exhibit to acknowledge the diverse parts of ourselves in the found and fond objects of our lives that seek personal and cultural expression.

Grace Lee Boggs is a writer, activist, and philosopher rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement. She devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America’s past and its potentially radical future.  She died last year at the age of 100.

 

The Pathwork Lectures, given by Eva Pierrakos, offer spiritual, psychological and philosophical wisdom into personal transformation and wholeness, down to the very core of our being, offering a voyage of discovery to the Real Self through the layers of our defenses, denial and fear.

 

I met James and Grace Lee Boggs in 1974 and was introduced to the Pathwork Lectures in 1977.

 

Although coming from two different perspectives, Grace from the political realm and the lectures, the personal, both challenge us to “Change Ourselves to Change the World.” I was fortunate to have been able to work with Grace for 10 years in Detroit. Both Grace and the Lectures inform my work in integrating and making real: “The Personal is Political and the Political is Personal.”

                            Tenderness: 4"x 2"x 2"

We have to hold ourselves and each other with tenderness, for tenderness is the antidote to hate.