Students Participate in Art and Activism with USFVotes
USFVotes joined organizations across the United States in an effort to get people signed up to vote on Sept. 17, National Voter Registration Day.
USFVotes is a nonpartisan campus initiative run through the McCarthy Center, with the goal of registering “100% of all eligible USF students, [educating] them about issues and candidates, and [turning] out 100% of registered voters at election time,” according to USF’s website.
Aligning with Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, and National Hispanic Heritage Month, the organization had tables across campus encouraging students to register to vote, and hosted a Political Poster Making event in conjunction with the Cultural Center in the evening.
Elena Jimenez, a sophomore politics major who tabled for USFVotes said, “I think that voter registration day had a specific… energy to it, I think already because people are mobilized nationwide and just kind of knowing that we were at least a chapter that was adding to that was really sweet.”
“Whether it was directing people to absentee ballots, helping them fill out forms… it was all really, really empowering,” she continued.
Angie Vuong, the program director for USFVotes and the associate director for public service and community engagement said, “I think [college students voting is] very important. I think young people are a growing population of new voters and having that privilege to vote is a gift and is a public act of love.”
“A lot of people sacrificed historically to give us this right to vote. And so I think it’s imperative that students act on that and continue that legacy. So it’s just even more imperative in these upcoming elections that young people exercise that right to vote,” she added.
Tiffanë Padilla, a first year psychology major, registered to vote at one of the booths. “I signed up [to vote] in the Undercaf two days ago. It was honestly good timing, they were there and I was walking by. At first I was reluctant to do it, but then, I don’t know, the person that was there, he just had a really good energy to him. So I was like, ‘you know, this is something that’s important and something that I need to do.’ So I just did it.”
USFVotes Program Team Lead and senior politics major Caitlin Kennedy said, “It’s really just about informing them about what registering to vote entails, how pretty easy it is and just informing them what [voting] really means in the general scope of the democratic process. You can do this within five minutes and it goes a long way.”
Vuong said, “The best bet to have someone walk you through the process of voting, voter registration, mail-in ballots, getting more information about the election day, or making a plan for election day, is through USFVotes affiliated student leaders and or the McCarthy Center. They have tabling sessions every Tuesday during dead hour, 11:45 to 12:45, up until the election.”
Beyond the USFVotes table, the Political Poster Making event also emphasized the vitality of voting. Featuring voting themed art from the Haight Street Art Center, attendees were invited to reflect on the pieces before the event began.
Sabrina Kwist, associate vice provost and co-manager of the Office of Antiracism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said at the event, “When we think about Constitution Day, and the right to vote, you don’t always necessarily think about what a radical, political, joyful act [it is].”
“When you think about the intersection of Constitution Day and arts and expression, think about the opportunities to address the injustices, to promote different ways of thinking. To even create tensions. Space is a creative tension, a collective, progressive, connected way of having different viewpoints and coming to solidarity in places and spaces.”
She then introduced Favianna Rodriguez, an Oakland-based interdisciplinary artist and social justice activist.
“Her art and practice address migration, gender justice, climate change, racial equity [and] sexual freedom. Her work centers joy and healing while challenging and trenching this dominant cultural practice,” said Kwist of Rodriguez.
Padilla also attended the poster making event and said, “I thought that Favianna was so cool. It was so empowering and so freeing to see someone just be authentically themselves, and the room was so free of judgment. It just helped amplify her mission and who she is.”
Rodriguez walked the audience of approximately 40 USF community members through some of the topics she’s passionate about, showcasing different art pieces she had created addressing the subjects.
One of Rodriguez’s pieces, titled “Migration is Beautiful,” is of a monarch butterfly, an insect known for its unique migration patterns.
“I think that nature is our ultimate teacher. And [for] a lot of us, our relationship has been separate from nature because of colonization. We have been taught to dominate nature, abuse nature,” said Rodriguez. “And so, in my work, I try to show how amazing nature is and how nature can actually teach us a lot.”
“The monarch butterfly flies from Mexico, through the United States and Canada and back. It is in its DNA to make the migration route. And you don’t carry no passport, it doesn’t carry a visa, right? Seriously, like nature does not respect borders. Aren’t we from the earth, right? Don’t we belong to nature?”
“We have to remember that borders are man-made. We all participate in structures that are actually created by human beings and often are based in a logic of power, of who belongs and who doesn’t belong. And we have to question those things,” she finished.
Valentina Ocampo, a masters student in migration studies, was wearing a shirt featuring “Migration is Beautiful” to the event. “It was really empowering to see her and tell us about her work and everything she does. It was amazing,” said Ocampo.
After Rodriguez’s presentation, students were invited to create their own posters by collaging some of her illustrations with words related to topics she had previously covered.
Once the posters were made, students had the opportunity to share them with the rest of the audience.
“[Something] that really stuck with me was all of the Palestine posters. It was really empowering to see other people who are obviously acknowledging… the genocide that [is] going on in the world. And then to see so many other Latina… Palestine allies, that was really, really cool and inspiring,” said Padilla.
Nour Al-muhtasib, a professor in the biology department, was one of the audience members who made their posters about Palestine. She described her poster, saying, “[It’s] about the future and justice and us working together. I have the colors [of Palestine] on the poster. They didn’t have [Palestine] written out so I had to cut letters, but it kind of worked out in the sense that a lot of Palestine is broken up, and it also represents diaspora of what’s happening. And the fist, representing the power of the people.”
Students covered a variety of topics in their posters. Ocampo is an international student from Colombia, and had an immediate idea for her poster.
“I have a very clear issue in my mind. It’s [the] forced disappearance of people … In Colombia, where I come from, it’s a big issue. My [masters] thesis is going to be about how migrants in the Darien Gap get forcefully disappeared.”
“If it’s an issue that it’s in your heart, you always think about how to address it, how to make it better. So I just knew I had to do my poster about it.”
Vuong said, “The power of art and the power of access to the ballot box demonstrates the intersection of what can happen when we reflect and reshape public opinion. How we shape democracy and advance justice really requires us to act and not just sit on the sidelines and be bystanders to what’s happening around us.”
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