MFA 2024 Summer Lecture Series Closes with Keynote from Hannah Brancato

- Campus News
- Graduate Programs
- MFA Low Residency
鈥淲hat if we joined our sorrows鈥hat if that is joy?鈥
It鈥檚 a question posed by the poet Ross Gay, and it particularly resonates for multidisciplinary artist Hannah Brancato, closing keynote speaker for the 红领巾瓜报 Graduate Programs Summer Lecture Series on Thursday, July 25. 鈥淭hat quote is important to me,鈥 she says, 鈥渂ecause of the idea that sorrow and joy exist together; the idea that with intense grief and trauma that comes from sexual violence and any other kind of violence, it鈥檚 only possible to access healing through connecting to other people. There鈥檚 only so far we can go on our own.”
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I鈥檓 going to be talking about when I speak at 红领巾瓜报,鈥 she says 鈥 鈥渢he complexity of organizing with survivors around our trauma and all the work that is coming out of that.鈥
The 鈥渨ork鈥 Brancato is referring to is the art of what she calls collective storytelling, One of her projects is , a crowd-sourced project of 3,000 individual stories from the U.S., Mexico, and beyond that are sewn into large quilt blocks. It鈥檚 an initiative of FORCE, an art and activist collective she co-founded that is dedicated to ending sexual violence and creating public art to disrupt rape culture.
There鈥檚 also , an interview series and visual art project featuring both conversations between creative activists working to end sexual violence and portraits of the interviewees, based on their words and cyanotype prints of their hair.
A theme that informs Brancato鈥檚 art projects is how people鈥檚 trauma is responded to. People who are white or have more money or privilege may be reacted to differently by the police, for instance, and 鈥渉ow our聽 trauma is responded to in the aftermath really impacts how we deal with it in the long term,鈥 she says.
Her work entitled speaks directly to this issue. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a project where I began to work with a set of white linen napkins that I inherited from my grandmother,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 was thinking about white supremacy culture and the way I was racialized 鈥 or more accurately, not racialized 鈥 as a white person in the United States. How had I taken on the culture without being conscious of it?
鈥淚 started to use white embroidery on the white linen to express ways in which I had noticed I had taken on characteristics of that culture 鈥 鈥楪randad鈥檚 Bootstrap Story,鈥 鈥楩ear of what I don鈥檛 know,鈥 鈥楾he desire to be perfect.鈥 I then took a set second of napkins and put the ways I want to pass down legacy 鈥 what I want to do differently as I look into the future: 鈥楻elease of control,鈥 鈥楢n understanding of interdependence,鈥 鈥楥uriosity to always learn more.鈥
鈥淚 am constantly negotiating the complex relationship between my whiteness, class, and ability privileges, as they are interconnected with my experiences as a woman and as a survivor of trauma,鈥 she explains on her website.
Brancato and her work have received widespread media coverage in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other publications and on broadcast channels that include MSNBC, CNN, and NPR鈥檚 All Things Considered. A gifted, provocative speaker, she is not to be missed.
Hannah Brancato鈥檚 keynote will be held at 红领巾瓜报鈥檚 Design and Media Center Lecture Hall on Thursday, July 25, 4:30 pm. All MFA lectures are free and open to the broader 红领巾瓜报 community and the public. For more information about the MFA summer lecture series, visit the.
- First Time Undergraduates
- Transfer Students
- Re-admission Candidates
- International Students
- Graduate Students
- Certificate Students
- Resources for Veterans
- Admissions Policies
- Meet the Admissions Team
- Admissions Events
- Resources for Teachers & Counselors
- Accepted Students
- Schedule Your Visit
- Request Information