Engaging Through Art and Performance

 

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When Olga Davis, an ASU professor of Human Communication, wanted to raise community awareness of sobering health issues like HIV/AIDS, mental health and substance abuse in the African-American community, she opted against the standard academic fare of educational pamphlets and informative lectures. Instead, she evoked her theatrical roots, setting the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus abuzz with a rousing showcase of art and performance, from the lyrical stylings of acclaimed local poets and storytellers to a trio of African dancers who stomped, smiled, and swirled to the beat of a dozen drums.  

Davis, whose interest in the relationship between race, gender and health led her to become part of a research team directed by Flavio Marsiglia of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center and ASU Foundation Professor of Cultural Diversity and Health, saw an opportunity to combine her two fields of study into one educational, engaging celebration using visual and performance art to examine “cultural processes in risk and resilience” in minority groups.

 

The spirited result, which kicked off African American History Month at the Downtown Phoenix campus, united an eclectic blend of artists and performers with local healthcare professionals in an effort to engage the community regarding health issues specific to African-Americans.

 

Davis believes that this artistic approach to addressing such weighty topics is a highly effective way of engaging, not only the African-American community, but persons of all backgrounds.

 

“The expression of public art is sometimes a better, or alternative, way of educating,” she said. “Performance art has a way of dispelling boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, class…It’s a way of universally connecting humans to humans.”

 

Opera singer Freeman Milton Davis II, who performed a selection of Negro spirituals for the event, agrees. “Arts have been touted as the universal language,” he said. “It can bring people together to see things on an equitable plane.”

 

Through creative writing, painting, photography, video collages, spoken word, music, and dance, the showcase highlighted health disparities and celebrated resilience in the African-American community.

 

But conceptualizing the concept of “health disparities” -- let alone translating it into a living piece of art -- was difficult for many of the artists involved. To overcome this, Davis worked closely with some of the artists, helping them to better understand both this concept and the interrelation of art and health.

 

“I had them reflect on this social, political, and cultural issue of health disparities,” she said. “Many of them connected through story. They’re communicating their life experiences, their relationships, through their visual and performance talents.”

 

For Ramona Wright, a painter whose work was featured at the event, the process of tackling these issues through art was a uniquely personal learning experience which put her in touch with her own resilience.

 

“At first it was difficult to conceptualize this notion of ‘health disparities’…until I realized that I had already done so in many pieces of my work already,” she said. “I realized that my art was part of a healing process.”

 

Marsiglia feels similarly. “Art heals,” he said. “There is healing when you create, see, participate in art.”

 

For Wright, art not only helped her endure and cope with her own health problems such as depression, arthritis, and fibromyalgia but also created a venue for her to educate and engage others.

 

Davis agrees with this concept. “I believe that when we evoke the senses, we have an opportunity to educate,” she said, adding that such an education “creates an opportunity to cultivate change.”

 

 “These artists,” she went on to say, “have thought of ways to create a critical consciousness in the eyes, ears, and feelings of the community.”

 

And, judging by the energy and involvement of the audience, who raucously applauded every performance and enthusiastically discussed “art as healing” in between courses of heart-healthy soul food, those artists may have succeeded.

 

Certainly, by the end of the night, the relationship between art and health was common knowledge among the crowd, and a cause for celebrating.

 

“Art is what makes us healthy, vibrant, living beings!” announced storyteller and writer Almeta Whitis to a cheering audience. “If there is no art, there is no life!”

 

High school student Matthew Balthazar, 14, thought the event was a success. “Sometimes art and music gets to people’s hearts better than words,” he said.
Davis wholeheartedly agrees. “This is the kind of event that engages our communities,” she said. “And we’re learning from those communities.”

 

Dr. Davis' project is one of several associated with the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Consortium (SIRC) that will address health disparities in diverse populations. SIRC has been named a Center of Excellence for research and training on health disparities. Funding for all projects associated with SIRC is through a grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Health (NCMHD/NIH). Visit http://sirc.asu.edu to learn more.

 

Catherine Traywick, ASU in the Community feature writer
catherine.traywick@asu.edu
480-965-0335

 

Olga Davis, Ph.D.
ASU Professor of Human Communication
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
Health Disparities in Our Community: Reflections in Art and Performance
olga.davis@asu.edu
(480) 965-5983

 

Community partners for the event:
Vice Provost for Administrative Services / Downtown Phoenix campus
American Heart Association

Arizona Informant

ASU’s School of Community Resources & Development
ASU’s College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation
Black Nurses Association
Department of English

Ebony House

Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
Intergroup Relations Center
Interpreter's Theatre
Karim's Cobbler Shop & Deli
MedPro
Multicultural Student Center
Parkinson Network of Arizona
School of Art
School of Public Affairs
School of Social Work

Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC)

 

Share your comments, questions and thoughts. Send an email to maureen.mills@asu.edu