Poetry is Not a Luxury

Poetry is Not a Luxury is an exhibition catalog for the 2019 exhibition of the same name curated by Maymanah Farhat. It considers how book arts have contributed to the recording of oppositional subjectivities in the U.S. The exhibition is titled after Audre Lorde’s 1977 essay on the intersections of creativity and activism that were not only essential to her own work but to a diverse group of feminist thinkers at the time. Recognizing that both creative work and activism are driven by subjectivity, Lorde argues that for women poetry is not a luxury but a vital necessity, as it provides a framework through which survival and the desire for change can be articulated, conceptualized, and transformed into meaningful action.

Featured artists:
Aurora De Armendi with Adriana Mendez Rodenas, Zeina Barakeh, Janine Biunno, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Joyce Dallal, Nancy Genn, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Brenda Louie, Nancy Morejon with Ronaldo Estevez Jordan and Marciel Ruiz, Katherine Ng, Miné Okubo, Martha Rosler, Zeinab Saab, Jacqueline Reem Salloum, Patricia Sarrafian Ward, Jana Sim, Sable Elyse Smith, Patricia Tavenner, Christine Wong Yap, and Helen Zughaib.