Arts of Abolition and Liberation

Dear Colleagues,

Since the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent massive protests in the US in Summer 2020, the term “abolition” has entered common parlance. This issue of Arts highlights artworks across media and genre—film, visual art, graphic narratives, theatre, and others—that explicitly focus on the art of abolition: of slavery, the carceral system, the police, or capitalism overall. While many art movements have long aligned with liberatory politics, this issue seeks to analyze artwork with an explicitly activist dimension. The art of abolition might unveil little-known past histories, addressing the dark complexity of our current political climate, or it might imagine a liberatory future, with the artist serving as the architect of the possible. In an era of increasing militarization, policing, and a major global fascist resurgence, this issue therefore serves as a necessary reminder of the potential of art to affect mass societal and personal transformation.

Dr. Julia Alekseyeva
Guest Editor

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