Who has Ownership?
What I learned about civil disobedience from Sophia Tolstoya, wife of Leo Tolstoy
“Tolstoy & I 5-6-26,” Ultramarine cretacolor on pages of my late mother’s cyrrilic version of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” self-portrait as avatar for Sofia Tolstoya and the project as a metaphor of the relationship between Russia and the United States today.
I track demonstrations of civil disobedience, for example, currently at the Venice Biennale. Despite feelings of personal anguish, I try to deconstruct the relative success or failure of the tactics.
I feel conflicted about the current protests at the Venice Biennale. Altho I agree that the current leadership is committing genocide and must be held accountable, I don’t condemn every Israeli or think the solution is to eliminate the country. I wish I had a solution. I know many friends & family who are still working on finding solutions and have even lost their lives to defending justice. I have friends in Iran, Lebanon and Israel, and think and worry about them every day. I have come to truly hate religious extremists of all stripes and then hate myself for feeling that hatred. Worst of all are the uber-monsters profiting from this catastrophe.