ARTish.org - Open Letter to Greg Esser

NOTE: This letter is a response to Greg Esser, the Director of Public Art Programming for the City of Phoenix, tearing down several anti-war artworks by Chicana/o students and Indigenous youth from ASU and Tonatierra/Nauacalli that were posted on one of Mr. Esser''s buildings this past First Friday.

Dear Mr. Esser:

I am writing to you regarding your surprising actions on Friday, October 1, 2004 on Roosevelt Street. As you may or may not know, twenty students from my course "Contemporary Chicana/o Art" in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University collaborated with various Indigenous youth from Tonatierra/Nauacalli on a public postering campaign dealing with the war on Iraq. As this particular "First Friday" event included many political actions, our class decided it would be a great opportunity to hang our posters along Roosevelt Street for this event. We spent five weeks planning and one intense week printing at the studio of Tonatierra/Nauacalli in downtown Phoenix.

During our planning stages, the class discussed the privatization of public space, the surveillance of public and democratic expression, and the possible aggressive attacks that our work could be faced with. We realized that conservative types who do not respect alternative forms of messaging and artwork might tear down our posters. We also realized that other conservative landowners might exert their private property rights that, in their mind, trump any public expression on "their land" because of their dogmatic beliefs in the market-value system. What we did not expect was the downtown liberal arts community to suppress our voices.

First, we must apologize for any grief we may have caused you, as it seems you were not aware of our project. However, to say that this was done "without permission" is disingenuous. I had been in contact with you in May about the possibility of doing public art downtown with Chicana/o Studies students. I went out of my way to meet you, gave you my card, and followed up with an email and telephone message. You never returned my calls or email. This was confusing to me. Why wouldn''t the Director of Public Art in Phoenix be interested in dialoging with the Department of Chicana/o Studies at ASU? Is it not your job and appointment to establish community ties and to develop diverse public art programming? Are you serving the diverse community of Phoenix by ignoring Chicana/os and by destroying our public art that happens to be on one of the several buildings you own? Is this representative of the level of tolerance in the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture?

I think you must be aware of the value of doing public art both with and without permission. You are probably aware that Indigenous and Chicana/o visions of public space differ most definitely from predominant paradigms. We believe that the southern border, for instance, is a temporary expression of a failing social order. The hegemony of Private Property may be seen in the same vein. Chicana/o and Indigenous peoples have occupied this territory for many generations and have been told over and over that our concerns, ways and aesthetics do not matter. Many Chicana/o residents of the Downtown and Garfield Districts view the downtown arts community as paving the way for gentrification, a whitewashing of diverse cultural expression in order to replace it with an aseptic, "sponsored" and paid for culture. It seems that your actions are in tune with this project.

Let me recount, from our perspective, what happened on Friday so you can understand how shocked we are at your actions. We began posting on the side of one of your buildings around 1pm with many people around. We met and spoke to a musician who was playing that night and who was happy to see the strong political and anti-war images. She was also setting up a voter registration at the site. At about 1:30, your wife Christy approached us and asked who was in charge. She was very kind and said she thought that what we were doing was "great" and that she supported it. She was concerned, however, that the paint on the wall would get damaged by the tape we were using. We offered to come paint the wall if damaged and even offered to take the posters down right then. She told us that there was no reason to take them down then, but we should leave our contact numbers in the case there was damage. We gave her our numbers and cards. Christy was very cool and told us about the Michael Moore event that she was booking in Phoenix. We finished the postering and left to get ready for our evening event at Tonatierra/Nauacalli.

About an hour later, we got a call from Christy who was irate. She said that you had arrived at the site and were pissed off. She said that you were going to call the police, you had already called authorities in Phoenix, and told us that vandalism of private property was punishable as felony. She said that you were going to sue us. She then told us that you had torn down all of the posters.

We were shocked at Christy''s radical shift in attitude especially since she had been supportive of the project when we met with her just an hour earlier. She told us that you had worked very hard cleaning up the buildings that were once crack houses and that you had put many years in building a strong arts community. The implication is that public art done by Chicana/os is endangering the clean image established by Esser and the downtown arts community. There is also an implication that we (the Department of Chicana/o Studies, Tonatierra, etc.) are not part of the "community." If we are not on your emailing lists, in your clubs, and at your meetings, then we have no right to participate in public art making downtown? You must realize, Mr. Esser, that the Phoenix arts community is large and diverse and we should not pretend that it is controlled by a few landowners, government employees and a handful of artists.

After ignoring our requests to dialogue and seeing our project on the War in Iraq on a one of the several buildings you own downtown, you decided to exert your private property privileges by tearing down the posters.

In the midst of an unsolved, disastrous war in Iraq, in a critical election year, a week and a half before ASU hosts the presidential debate, and a week before Michael Moore appears in Phoenix (which you and your wife are promoting), you would rather have a clean, blank wall on one of your buildings than a series of posters by Chicana/o and Indigenous youth dealing with Iraqi civilian deaths, tributes to US soldiers including Pat Tillman, and critiques of US foreign policies during First Fridays? What would Michael Moore say if he knew that his Phoenix promoters were tearing down anti-war posters done by minority youth?

The Department of Chicana/o Studies and Tonatierra take the threat of a lawsuit very seriously. We had no intention of causing property damage or vandalizing your building. We posted in the middle of the day with many people around. We gave your wife our contact information. We offered to take the posters down and to repair any damage. This offer still stands.

I hope you understand our concern for your actions. We realize that you believe in your right to tear down anything that appears on properties that you own. What we are questioning is your integrity as a public servant for the arts and your dedication to promoting diverse culture in Phoenix.

Finally, I would like to thank you for enriching the art making experience for my students. Indeed, this is a wonderful opportunity for teaching and learning. You are welcome to come to my class and to dialogue with us about this controversy and public art making in the near future.

Sincerely,

John Jota Leanos
Artist & Cultural Worker
Assistant Professor & Southwest Borderlands Scholar
Department of Xicana/o Studies
Arizona State University
PO Box 873502
Tempe, AZ 85287-3502
Tel. 480-727-6113
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The above was first posted on artlink''s site by huehue