FIERCE LAMENT

Apr 14

Written By MB

“I understand the loss that leads to despair…It has happened to us and is happening to the land, the breaking of the heart of creation.” - Linda Hogan

“The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling…their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few… Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” - Arundhati Roy

Produced/curated by Camille Gage, guest curator and founding member, Form + Content Gallery

Fierce Lament brings together select artists, galleries, micro-theatres, environmentalists, writers, Indigenous leaders, and other collaborators in inquiry and co-creation in recognition of Earth Day, 2015.
Offering art, social practice engagements and other experiences in a variety of media, mediums and performance disciplines, Fierce Lament is an investigation into the sorrow of an ailing planet and her people, and what artists and others might do to heal her wounds.

The first Earth Day was held 45 years ago in 1970. A response to a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, the original event was organized as a “national teach-in” to educate and inspire the public about environmental stewardship.

Much has happened in the last half century. The last strands of the already tenuous cord holding humans in relationship with the elemental commons – the earth, air and water upon which we depend for survival – have frayed to breaking. As a global community we find ourselves at a tipping point.

Are there actions yet to be taken that might change our collective course?
How can art and art practice animate new ways of being in relationship with Earth?
Can art and artists help normalize the radical actions needed to heal and sustain our planet?

Fierce Lament will examine these questions and more. Form + Content Gallery will host an exhibition and provide a gathering place for teach-ins, readings, a book club and other activities.

Fierce Lament's Participating Artists:

Alyssa Baguss - artist and arts program coordinator at Silverwood Park

Jonee Brigham - artist and senior fellow at the Institute on the Environment at the U of M

Andrea Carlson - artist

Sean Connaughty - artist, educator and environmental activist

Heid E. Erdrich - poet, video artist, cookbook author!

Greg Euclid - artist and educator

Camille Gage - artist and activist, I AM WATER

Meena Mangalvedhekar - public artist

Lela Pierce - artist, dancer with Anaya Dance Theater (

Deborah Ramos - artist, urban gardener with Zenteotl project

Dana Sikkila - artist, founder of The 410 Project an experimental arts space in Mankato, MN