Resiste, An outdoor exhibition of Asaro collective



Last month we started working on the  first international project in outdoor gallery of Bearpit with the support from PRSC, great contribution from Kiptik (Bristol’s Zapatista Solidarity group) and Mark Sands and his crew of dedicated artists to brings the  wood cut prints of Asaro collective of Oaxaca and their protest street art to Bristol.

It took 8 months of preparation from making the documentary ( But the paintcomes through) ,to discussion with PRSC who offered help from the very beginning, an art council application with help of Jon Newey  which was not successful  but a great learning curve .

Asaro started printing works from end of June. This was while another series of teachers protests had started in Oaxaca after introduction of education reforms. I was following the daily news of protests in social media and occasionally main stream media (Just like my Iranian experience, situations like this are always much more complex than what main stream media represents). Asaro collective were back on the street and their new series of work were pasted on the walls of Oaxaca.Some of the same prints are now displayed in Bearpit exhibition and mainly on the cube.There were 6 people killed during the protest .

























In the mean time ,in the UK the politics was taking new dramatic shifts.Brexit happened, parties fell apart and in middle of all that, it felt that from Oaxaca to Bristol normal people are struggling for almost the same problems. It was not long after the new regime of conservatives was settled in to position that the idea of grammar schools was back on agenda. From energy resources, to education and social equality ,all the messages in  Asaro works made even more sense for us here.
Bearpit is definitely a special place for this exhibition. It is one of the major transport hubs of Bristol city centre where many people pass everyday .It is also situated between the main high street shopping area with big brands and shopping malls and the more radical area with very strong sense of local identity which is stokes Croft. There are also many people who live in in the tunnels and free spaces of Bearpit. From homeless and people with drug misuse and mental problems problem to buskers and skaters. 


During the one week of working and preparing the exhibition we somehow attached to its eco sysytem.We got to know some of the people who live in Bearpit and it was great to hear they also liked Asaro works. Maybe there was some common ground in the Asaro protest work and some of what they are suffering. It was great that the work didn’t get tagged straight away and there were time for people to go and visit Bearpit.

Unfortunately one of the young men who was always busking in the tunnels, committed suicide last week. His name was Sam. He was a warm and gentle person .One day he walked naked through town to get himself to suspension Bridge where he finally jumped down. Not a single person contacted the police. Not a person stopped him in his naked walk which must have taken 45 minutes. A young life wasted in early afternoon of a normal October Monday and that was that.

The Bearpit exhibition was followed by a print exhibition in Hamilton House and finished with an evening of Film and Talks with Kiptik and me. With many attending the cosy Cafe Kino screening room and warm discussions after screening, it was a great final to our two week celebration of Asaro Collective work.

For more pictures from the Resiste exhibition, follow this link:
https://goo.gl/photos/KgfoBMqSoWGYJtPD6

For information about Asaro read this great blog post from Adam Quarshie for Hamilton House website:

 https://medium.com/@CoexistCIC/el-arte-de-resistencia-the-art-of-resistance-b1f5c9edf71c#.a0621dtbr







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