Submission for Workshop: “Art Theology, Non-Violence, and Wisdom from Margins"

300 Word Statement of Interest:

Within the contemporary field of theopoetics, much time has been spent theorizing and articulating the ways in which poetry, figurative language, and artistic expression are helpful ways to decolonize God-talk and make the process of doing theology more accessible. However, much of this theorizing has been conducted through essay format and the parameters of academic rhetoric. Consequently, much of the theorizing around theopoetics perpetuates the exclusivist and inaccessible discourse that it claims to critically engage and seeks to transform. As a result, I believe that the theorizing of theopoetics, and God-talk generally, should be engaged through, or at least accompanied by, poetic or artistic expression. Furthermore, this poetic or artist expression should be enacted by the person, or communities, theorizing themselves rather than outsourced to professional poets or expert artists. If the goal is to imagine God through the decolonial lens of artistic expression, outsourcing that artistic expression to experts replicates exclusive and inaccessible power structures. Given the context of my own work, the premise of this workshop is both personally edifying and revolutionary in the space it holds within AAR. The invitation for “participants to make theology by making art and reflecting on the meanings that lines and colors hold” decolonizes the space of AAR where banking methods of learning are the norm. This workshop in and of itself is an important invitation for participants to participate in synthetic and decolonial learning through artistic expression. Furthermore, this session is also a decolonial space of reflection and imagination amidst a frequently colonizing space of academic professionalism and performance. I would be honored, edified, and overjoyed to participate in this artistic revolution.

Art of Creation:

Freed from Prescribed Perfection -  

Soul-filled Elation!