To celebrate Freda’s 85th birthday! A unique and wonderful Artist and Activist. 

Happy BirthDay Freda! 

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” -Bertolt Brecht

One advantage of having had the good fortune to live into old age is that I can look back and see my life in art and activism as a story, a journey that begins with three facts about myself as a child: I was aware in some way of being in opposition to the society I grew up in; I was keenly interested in what was happening in the world; and I knew that what happened in the world had, in some way, an impact on my small life.

This longevity, (for which I am grateful!), offers me the opportunity to reflect on personal intentionality and processes of engagement against a changing social and political backdrop. Art and Activism. Although there have been many permutations and combinations in how I managed these activities, I can’t really separate my journey into political radicalization from my development as an artist, nor can I separate my activist intervening in struggles for social justice from the creative work I’ve done. They coincide. The same path, the same journey of learning, of opening. A journey conducted within specific social cultures of resistance to repression in the political conditions of specific times.

– Freda Guttman, from her website.