Shomya Tripathy
Shomya Tripathy works with young activists across the country to reduce the stigma around abortion, build power, and shift culture. Shomya has trained over 1,000 young leaders in grassroots organizing, power-mapping, storytelling, artivism and more. Prior to Advocates, Shomya worked at the New Organizing Institute as the Senior Organizer in Chicago, running free trainings to ensure that organizing skills were accessible to young people and communities of color. She also served as the Community Manager at STAND, a student-led organization to end genocide. Shomya graduated from the University of Texas Austin with a Bachelors in Political Science and Black Studies.
Presentations from Facing Race 2018
The Art of the Reproductive Justice Movement
Artistic expression has played a major role in nearly every social movement from the freedom songs of the civil rights movement to the use of graphic art by ACT UP. Art has the power to transform culture, to imagine new possibilities, to reflect our experiences, and to evoke powerful emotions that move people to action. In the reproductive justice movement, the opposition’s grotesque images have dominated the cultural narrative. This workshop will feature the artists working to flip this script through centering the voices, art, and work of women of color. Participants will have the opportunity to explore and create art-- that uplifts the voices of diverse communities, exposing raw, authentic, honest, positive, and even imaginative possibilities of who we are as a movement and where we need to be.
Presenters will describe the various ways activist and artists have integrated plays, songs, design, stand up comedy, photographs and more to build power within communities and transform harmful cultural narratives across movements. They will engage the audience in conversation about the power of art to strengthen all of our movements. Further, they will provide an opportunity for participants to try out their acting chops and get in to character to explore abortion narratives and reproductive justice themes using the play “Out of Silence”, as well as generate their own movement song.
Speakers: Shomya Tripathy, Monica Simpson