By Steve Pavey
What keeps you going?
"I don’t know whether I would have survived had not movements survived, had not communities of resistance, communities of struggle." - Angela Davis
“Well, I don’t think we have any alternative other than remaining optimistic. Optimism is an absolute necessity, even if it’s only optimism of the will, as Gramsci said, and pessimism of the intellect. What has kept me going has been the development of new modes of community. I don’t know whether I would have survived had not movements survived, had not communities of resistance, communities of struggle. So whatever I’m doing I always feel myself directly connected to those communities and I think that this is an era where we have to encourage that sense of community particularly at a time when neoliberalism attempts to force people to think of themselves only in individual terms and not in collective terms. It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.” - Angela Davis, Angela Y Davis Freedom is a Constant Struggle P. 49
I AM FINDING HOPE in communities of resistance from Ferguson, to Atlanta, to Mexico, to Palestine, to Charlotte, to Washington DC, to Standing Rock . . . consider these images co-created with . . .
(images: #HopeInFocus with GLAHR, Charlotte Uprising, International Indigenous Youth Council, National Domestic Workers Alliance, #ReclaimHolyWeek Holy Week of Resistance National Planning, National Immigrant Youth Alliance, Free Palestine, #Not1More, #BlackLivesMatter, #MniWiconi)
Read more from Angela Davis here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/780-freedom-is-a-constant-struggle
See more from Hope in Focus here: www.stevepavey.com
Steve is a documentary photographer, applied anthropologist and contemplative activist, all of which come together in the vocation of cultivating a way to see, in order to bear witness to the world both as it is, and as it could be. His creative process is deeply shaped by accompanying and being accompanied by humanity living on the margins of empire, documenting and creating images with those shrouded in “otherness” towards the goal of collective action and mutual liberation. Steve’s photography focuses on hope – hope found in the struggle and dignity of becoming more human. You can see more of Steve's work at www.stevepavey.com and to get in contact with Steve email him at stephencpavey@gmail.com. Steve works with Hope In Focus, which bears witness to the world as it is and as it could be through activist photography committed to walking alongside the world’s oppressed and marginalized, finding hope together in the collective struggle for human dignity and justice.