Suzanne Scott Constantine

We Object (2018)
watercolor and pen and ink
9 x 12 in.

As an interdisciplinary artist – performance poetry, mixed media and installation art – my work responds to the treatment of marginalized and disenfranchised people in our culture and around the world. I frequently juxtapose art about a broken and fragmented world with work about our broken and fragmented lives. Despite the chaos of our current political and cultural environment, my work challenges the viewers and participants to step into the pandemonium with eyes wide open and in the process to discover radical hope and compassion. I am particularly interested in the plight of women (again) and LGBTQ people (again). My art exhibitions are accompanied by original performance poetry, and interactive art that generally addresses the blind spots we all experience in our quest for justice. My work generally addresses the intersections of race, especially whiteness and privilege, with other social justice issues.

My most recent day job was a professor of social justice and human rights in an interdisciplinary program at George Mason University, where I also served as director of Women and Gender Studies for four years. I was also a resident studio artist at the Workhouse Arts Center, outside of Washington DC, where I worked alongside 15 other artists. I have recently moved to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Currituck Sound, where I am beginning a new phase of my life as a full-time artist and writer. My work explores issues women face because our lives and our bodies are always “up for grabs,” literally and metaphorically. Our voices are silenced, our bodies are objectified, and the world splits open when we dare to speak the truth.

© Suzanne Scott Constantine