Acci\u00f3n Latina\u2019s 6th annual exhibition, the multidisciplinary \u201cC\u00f3mplices en la Resistencia,\u201d reflects the power of photojournalism, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful and compassionate reporting, particularly in a field that tends to elevate some voices and subjugate others.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Curated by El Tecolote Photo Editor Natasha Kohli, the show\u2019s title is a nod to the Indigenous Action\u2019s 2014 zine, \u201cAccomplices Not Allies: Abolishing The Ally Industrial Complex, An Indigenous Perspective & Provocation,\u201d a revolutionary guide that identifies points of intervention against the \u201callyship industrial complex.\u201d The term refers to the problematic approach of activists who address \u201ccommunity issues\u201d from a capitalistic and exploitative lens, often seen in photojournalism and visual storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The provocation challenges so-called \u201callies\u201d to rethink their intentions in community organizing and nonprofit work, and to consider the difference between acting for others, with others, and acting for one\u2019s own interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe risks of an ally who provides support or solidarity (usually on a temporary basis) in a fight are much different than that of an accomplice. When we fight back or forward, together, becoming complicit in a struggle towards liberation, we are accomplices,\u201d the text reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the text, \u201callyship\u201d is passive participation in the anti-oppression struggle, the person who wishes to \u201chelp\u201d folks in the fight for liberation but at their own convenience. They are the \u201cfloaters\u201d who jump from one issue to the next but withdraw once meaningful action and discussion extend beyond their comfort zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accomplices actively disobey colonial structures and ideas, utilizing their privilege for the betterment of all groups who face intersecting forms of oppression. Unafraid of personal or professional backlash, accomplices strategize with, not for, and listen with respect while holding themselves accountable and responsible in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe people that I feel most inspired by are those who are willing to sacrifice everything for what they believe in, those willing to put themselves in an uncomfortable and unknown place because they know it must happen for people to pay attention,\u201d Kohli said. \u201cThis is how revolutions begin, how history is made, and how someone\u2019s frame of thought changes. It\u2019s not by staying comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Featuring work from 26 volunteer photographers and illustrators, \u201cC\u00f3mplices en la Resistencia\u201d focuses not only on the struggles and fights, tragedies and traumas among communities of color, but showcases their celebrations, accomplishments and triumphs, a mission that El Tecolote has upheld for nearly 50 years. The bilingual publication, along with its many contributors, continues the struggle against colonization, determined to uplift the historical and personal narratives often invisibilized by forces who seek to silence them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are accomplices in that we\u2019re in this for the long run, we\u2019re in it until the end, we\u2019re in it no matter what,\u201d Kohli said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously known as the annual \u201cLatino Life Photography Exhibition,\u201d the show is the only ongoing photography event in the San Francisco Bay Area that highlights the Latinx experience. This year\u2019s exhibit is unique in that it documents diverse backgrounds locally, nationally and internationally\u2014from the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border to the Guatemalan Mam community of Oakland to the artist behind the aesthetic of the Black Panther Party newspaper to shedding light on missing and murdered women in First Nation communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be an accomplice is to recognize that your own community\u2019s struggle is not the only struggle. There are a lot of similarities and parallels in the struggles of other minority groups that reflect your own,\u201d Kohli said. \u201cWe can learn from the ways other communities are solving problems, how they dismantle, rebuild, and heal collectively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kohli hopes the exhibit will prompt conversations about political activism, and encourage people to not only question their motives but challenge the way they do things in and beyond their communities. As the text concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDirect action is really the best and may be the only way to learn what it is to be an accomplice. We\u2019re in a fight, so be ready for confrontation and consequence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cC\u00f3mplices en la Resistencia\u201d is on display now at Acci\u00f3n Latina\u2019s Juan R. Fuentes Gallery\u2014located at 2958 24th St., San Francisco\u2014and it will run until January 14, 2020. Exhibiting artists include: Gabriela Alem\u00e1n, Bhabna Banerjee, Emily Barresi, Jocelyn Carranza, Mike Chen, Chris \u201cL7\u201d Cuadrado, Nick Derenzi, Alejandro Galicia Diaz, Ivan Hernandez, Amarah Hernandez, David Mamaril Horowitz, Gabriella Angotti-Jones, Mabel Jim\u00e9nez, Brianna Kalajian, Lara Kaur, Ekevara Kitpowsong, Natasha Kohli, Beth LaBerge, Valeria Olgu\u00edn Ontiveros, Amanda Peterson, Dane Pollok, Drago Renter\u00eda, Carla Hern\u00e1ndez Ram\u00edrez, Sophia Schultz Rocha, Alexis Terrazas, Adelyna Tirado and Mark Jayson Quines.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acci\u00f3n Latina\u2019s 6th annual exhibition, the multidisciplinary \u201cC\u00f3mplices en la Resistencia,\u201d reflects the power of photojournalism, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful and compassionate reporting, particularly in a field that tends to elevate some voices and subjugate others.\u00a0 Curated by El Tecolote Photo Editor Natasha Kohli, the show\u2019s title is a nod to the Indigenous Action\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":42441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18445],"class_list":["post-42434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","post_format-post-format-gallery","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n