Origins of The Holding Project

Vivian Ho wrote the article titled: Asian Americans reported 3,800 hate-related incidents during the pandemic, report finds: Abuse tracked by Stop AAPI Hate found more than 68% was verbal harassment while 11% was physical, March 16, 2021 in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/16/asian-americans-hate-incidents-pandemic-study 

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In the spring of 2021, concerned by the reported upsurge in violence directed against members of the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders), three artists, Lee Fearnside, Ashley Pryor and  Barbara Miner met to discuss what role art might play in addressing this problem.  As three white artists of European descent, we were sensitive to our outsider status, we were aware that we could not “speak for” a community to which we did not belong.  And yet, we also felt action in response to this situation was critical; that saying or doing nothing was to ignore and give tacit approval to the violence.  We had been down this road before as we grappled with an appropriate response to violence against Black Americans, members of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+. community, women, and members of other identity groups living in the United States.  We considered our own personal experiences with violence and marginalization, and we reflected on the increasing polarization of American society that makes it difficult to share these experiences.  Without inciting further diatribe and debate, we decided that art could provide a safe space for community dialogue about feelings of safety and unsafety and how these feelings about community shape individual’s lives.  

 

“The Holding Project” encourages this dialogue.  “The Holding Project” is a large-scale, concertina book structure that consists of multiple panels that hold individual responses to the questions:  “What makes you feel safe?” “What makes you feel unsafe?” This structure allows the book to expand infinitely as individuals add responses, cumulatively creating a community response.   From September to November of 2021, the artists traveled to various locations across Northwest Ohio to invite community participation in the project. Each segment of the final structure will contain multiple pockets that are hand-fabricated by the artists.  Small trading card-sized cards with short writing prompts will capture responses to the theme of safety and violence.