Hi everybody

My name is Alex- I'm a Wilmington native but now live in San Francisco studying for my MFA. Michael was kind enough to extend me an invitation into the NWAA and asked if I might provide updates of my activities here in exchange.

I'm currently enrolled in the "Social Practice" program at the California College of the Arts. Socially engaged work has been around for decades but only recently been coined and institutionalized. These days I see the term "social practice" as sort of a catch-all for a lot of contemporary practices that have yet to be critically defined, or by nature resist categorization, so they get lumped together under this heading... generally, my peers and I work project based, engage the local environment through public interventions or community collaborations, are socially/ environmentally/ politically conscious, and/or focused on fostering "relations". Vague, I know... Conceptual art meets social activism? something along those lines...

I'm pretty excited about the possibility of returning to Wilmington and continuing my work there, and/or at least establishing a relationship with progressive arts organizations in my home town.

I don't have a website but here is a link to a somewhat recent article featuring a project of mine which may provide some insight into my interests.

The top image is a still from video documentation of an intervention I did in my current neighborhood in SF- the link above leads to an article for more details. The bottom left image is from a week long project realized abroad- a temporary community was established to live at the land, an independent art site and compound farm in northern Thailand. During the project, the use of money to obtain sustenance was prohibited; instead, participants fished, gathered, and foraged for food.

I look forward to being a member of this community and meeting you all in the future. For anyone that may be interested in contacting me for any reason, please don't hesitate- cheers!