Teen interns and Fellows participate in a This Is Not A Gun workshop. Photo: Airyka Rockefeller.
Teen voices can have incredible power in advocating for change in the world. On February 12, 2023, The CJM's Teen Art Connect (TAC) interns and TAC Anti-bias Leaders Fellows participated in a This Is Not A Gun workshop with artists Cara Levine and Angela Hennessy, presented in conjunction with the exhibition Cara Levine: To Survive I Need You to Survive, where teens engaged in creative practice and discussion around racial profiling, police brutality, and societal trauma in America. The workshop was developed as an extension of Levine’s studio practice and is a part of the multidisciplinary artwork This Is Not A Gun. One TAC intern and one TAC Anti-bias Leaders Fellow co-facilitated the workshop and led their peers in conversations about racism.
After the workshop, Senior Education Manager Julie Grigoryan spoke with TAC Anti-bias Leaders Fellow Amia about her experience co-facilitating the workshop, how teens can be leaders in advocacy and activism, and the importance of self-care while engaging with tough topics.
Julie: Thank you so much for having this conversation about the work you're doing to combat bias and discrimination. Could you start by explaining your connection to The CJM and the Teen Art Connect (TAC) Anti-bias Leaders Fellowship?
Amia: I am a current member of the Fellowship at The CJM, where I’m working on a project that uses art to create awareness and advocate for people of color navigating the mental health system.
The project is centered around three main branches of bias: discrimination within the system toward people that work in mental health facilities or people receiving care; cultural stigma in communities of color surrounding mental health; and the lack of accessibility to mental health services in communities of color.
I'm interviewing people of color from my community who work in the mental health field or who have struggled with mental health. I'm also creating three poems about these different issues, and have organized a poetry reading in my community that will be a part of the Youth Creative Exposition and features youth poems that relate to mental health.
I'm hoping that this will help bring awareness to and destigmatize this issue in our society, and create a loving and open space where people are able to voice their opinions, their struggles, and their experience with mental health.
Julie: That is powerful work that you're doing, and I can't wait to see it. You did an amazing job helping facilitate the This Is Not A Gun workshop with artists Cara Levine and Angela Hennessy, which we conducted with our TAC Fellows and teen interns. As a co-facilitator, you led peers in tough conversations about racism. Could you talk about your experience and what that was like for you?
Amia: It was a really beautiful experience—and also a very difficult experience. As a person growing up in my generation, I've always been surrounded by conversations about the Black Lives Matter movement, and gun violence in general is a huge topic that affects my life and the lives of my peers every single day. It was helpful for me and the people I was leading to have that background knowledge, but it was also difficult because these conversations can be very emotional and open up a lot of our struggles.
But what was beautiful was realizing how articulate and opinionated and strong all of the Fellows and teen interns here are, and how aware our generation is about all of these topics. I don't think there was a single question that I asked during the workshop where there weren’t people contributing to the discussion and posing more questions. That was just a really great experience.
Teen interns and Fellows participate in a This Is Not A Gun workshop. Photo: Airyka Rockefeller.
Julie: We talked in the workshop about how it seems unfair that the burden of solving these issues is on you and your peers; but also how everyone in the room said, “Yes, we are willing to take this on because it's so important.”
Amia: We talked about how these issues have been a part of our childhood, and a part of growing up. Which is very sad, but it's also made us very passionate about this issue, because we've seen how it can affect our communities and our schools. Hearing somebody’s personal experience with guns, or lack of gun control, or their fears around it—it unlocks this empathy and compassion that pushes a movement forward, or strengthens our passion for advocating for change.
It’s common to see people my age discussing all of these issues—all of the things happening around us.
There's good and bad about that. We always have to be aware, making sure that we know what's happening with our world so that we can create change—but it’s also difficult because we are still children and we want to be able to enjoy our youth. But I think it's also really cool that our generation is so passionate about these issues. We're constantly discussing and sharing our opinions, and that's ultimately what leads to action.
Julie: Because these challenging topics can take an emotional toll, self-care is such an important component of this work. What has been helpful to you to care for yourself?
Amia: I think that the level of awareness we have about what’s going on can definitely impact mental health and take a toll on how much hope we have for our future. I personally recharge and ground myself through the things that make me happy. I like to listen to music or create music, and to crochet and talk to my friends. And it all kind of sounds minuscule, but I think that we underestimate the power of doing small things that rebuild our energy.
Sometimes it’s also important to take a break from social media or from the news. And that's not to say that you should go completely offline and not be aware of anything, because I think that can also be harmful.
But if you are feeling extremely overwhelmed by all of the struggles of the world and you're starting to lose hope, or it's taking a toll on you mentally, then you're not going to be able to feel prepared to have conversations about these topics.
I think that it's best in those moments to take a breather, regather your thoughts, regather your hope, do whatever grounds you, and then return to these spaces more ready to take on whatever you need to take on to create the change that you want to see in the world.
Julie: I love what you said about those small moments. Recharging is a really important step in this work.
In the This Is Not A Gun workshop, we worked a lot with our hands and created objects out of clay to help us to process the information we learned and have these tough conversations. How does art making play a healing role in your life, and why is it meaningful?
Amia: Art has a way of grounding me and connecting me to my family and friends. I really started making art and music or writing poetry because I wanted to express very difficult or very passionate emotions, and have an outlet for the things that I was feeling. And the beautiful thing is that it really did help me. I think that art has such a capacity to heal and connect, and that's been incredibly helpful in my life. I don't think that I would be able to articulate my emotions and my opinions as well if I hadn't had the opportunity to do that through art first.
I also think that creating art in order to advocate for a specific issue can help you go deeper into that issue. Whether that be deepening your knowledge of the issue, or just your connection to it.
When I started my project to create awareness and to advocate for people of color navigating the mental health system, I was definitely passionate about the topic. But while organizing the event, or beginning to write my poems, or hearing from my community, I have become even more connected to it, and more passionate about getting people to recognize that it needs to be addressed.
I think that it's so important to recognize that advocacy can look so many different ways. Art is an incredible way to advocate for what you believe in.
Teen interns and Fellows participate in a This Is Not A Gun workshop. Photo: Airyka Rockefeller.
Julie: Do you have any other words of advice for other teens who might want to start doing this advocacy and social justice work?
Amia: My biggest advice is to not be overwhelmed by it. Because I think that it's so easy to look at the gravity of these issues that we're tackling and be overwhelmed and feel like, “Oh, I can't do anything. I'm just a kid. I have no power in legislation, and I can't even vote.”
But I think that what's powerful about the work that we're doing is that even our voices can create change. Just speaking about these issues can create change. So don't underestimate yourself. Don't be overwhelmed by how scary and big these issues may seem. You can be a leader. You can do whatever you want. If you have the passion, if you have the desire to create change, then there's nothing stopping you. Truly nothing stopping you.
Julie: I think there is nothing stopping you for sure, Amia. We are so thankful to have you in our teen programs, and for your help co-facilitating this workshop. And I also feel very fortunate that you're in this world to do this work that you're doing. So thank you.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This Is Not A Gun is a socially engaged artwork that utilizes collective creative activism to open space for healing and cultivate an increased awareness around racial profiling, police brutality, and societal trauma in America. Through workshops, participants use clay to recreate objects that police have mistaken for guns. This Is Not A Gun workshops are hosted by artists, activists, healers, and mindfulness collaborators.
Cara Levine, This Is Not A Gun, Workshop Series. 2017–present. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Impart Photography.
Cara Levine: To Survive I Need You to Survive explores loss, empathy, and equity through sculpture, video, and socially engaged practices. Grappling with some of the most pressing issues of our time, including police brutality, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the California-based artist uses her artistic practice as a means to explore and process grief around personal and collective traumas. The resulting works highlight how creative endeavors can facilitate healing and help mourners find meaning in community with one another. Drawing on Jewish traditions, community practice, and interconnectedness, the exhibition invites visitors to explore installations and sculptural works that plumb the depths of the intimate and universal experiences of grief and regeneration.
Cara Levine, DIG: A Hole To Put Your Grief In, 2021. Shalom Institute, Malibu, CA. Photo: Nir Yaniv. Courtesy the artist.
Amia a 2022–2023 TAC Anti-bias Leaders Fellow who is working on a project highlighting the disparities of mental health treatment for communities of color. With poetry as her medium, she aims to give voice to this issue. Amia is a junior at Bishop O'Dowd high school.
Julie Grigoryan manages The CJM's educational efforts, programs, and partnerships for teens. Prior to joining The CJM, she served as Education Director at the International Children’s Art Museum (ICAM) in San Francisco. While at ICAM she coordinated a world-wide arts education program and received an IMLS grant to develop a partnership program with the Hellenic Children’s Museum in Athens, Greece. Julie has been extremely active in providing arts education to children working as both a museum educator and classroom art teacher. Julie holds a BA in Art History from UC Berkeley and received an MA in Art History from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C.