Black Boots Ink » Juan Carlos

SF Camerwork Panel Discussion: June 9, 2011

Emilio Banuelos — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:18:47 +0000

SF Camerawork welcomes Black Boots Ink photographers to discuss their work and their most recently published magazine. We hope you can join us at SF Camerwork in San Francisco.

Magazine No. 3: Pageantry

Will Hortman — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Black Boots Ink is about the rituals of life in the pursuit of happiness — it is about all of us. Magazine No. 3 Pageantry by 11 artists is a look at the grand displays; the pompa, the shows and flash of life that take place in the public/private world.

BBI: Pageantry by Jennifer Ahn, Emilio Bañuelos, Santiago Bustamante Mujica, Elyse Butler, Juan Carlos, Elena Carrasco, David Flores Magon, Rory Hejtmanek, Irwin Lewis, Victor Prieto, Megan Wilson.

Click here to order Issue No. 3 from MagCloud.

Love Politics

Will Hortman — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:17:46 +0000

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Love Politics
by Ruby Cymrot-Wu

How can activism be a practice in love? I believe it must be, because activists need to learn how to love themselves and trust themselves to do the work that is necessary. Activism requires love to be sustainable. Whatever underemployed activist you are – an artist, a teacher, a community organizer – love can be the basis of your work. Not anger or frustration, but a passionate love of change, of your own self, and of the people around you.

As activists, our mission is to love the whole being of every individual, and work to improve each person’s quality of life by moving forward comprehensively and holistically. It is strange that many of us believe this, but forget to include ourselves. We are not pardoned. How can we fight for the improvement of the quality of life for others and simultaneously forget to leave room for our own feelings of elation and grief? As our society ignores the realness of emotional and mental stress for everyone, we feel that we must suppress our own experiences and struggles in order to be true, efficient leaders. There is a silencing of our needs, and we are forced to push ahead, perpetuating the cycle of our pervasive mental health crisis. Instead, we can combat the pandemic by doing our work passionately and forming our own practice of loving ourselves.

A fulfilling project, not to mention a paycheck, is a privilege not many are afforded.

And at the same time, we cannot take this privilege and turn it around into a guilt-ridden drive to ignore passions and needs that are not directly linked to an end goal. We cannot give and expect nothing in return. The work can feed you in some way.

How can we bring our whole self to activism? By loving ourselves as well as the people directly affected by our activism. In the old Jewish teaching from Hillel “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me.” We must perpetuate a sustainable model for activists, or else our actions and movements in the present will fail in the future. If we do not take this moment now, there will not be anyone to carry on the work, or even worse – no one to mentor the next generation of activists.

I charge each and every person to take a moment and reflect on what you can do to support yourself. Even if you take 10 minutes out of your day to drink a cup of tea, I encourage you to try it. It might just be the change you need to make change in our world.

Issue No. One

Will Hortman — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:09:20 +0000

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Publications about women are often published with the intention of defining them. Black Boots Ink is taking a different approach. Each photograph is an individual statement about women and as an essay the images undertake a discussion with the viewer using photographs to create dialogue.

We invite you to share your knowledge, please leave a comment.

What makes a woman, motherhood, beauty, strength…?
Your words are a part of this work.