195: Liz Lerman Part 2: What Can Witches Teach us About Art & Social Change

An outside artist does not become effective by knowing everything about a place.Effectiveness begins with recognizing how much they do not know.That idea has followed us from our Building Blocks episode on outside artists, through Eric Gottesman’s journey from photographer to collaborator, and into the first part of our conversation with Liz Lerman. Liz calls us toward a more horizontal practice—one in which expertise matters, but does not automatically confer authority.In Part Two, that principle becomes even more urgent. Through her work Wicked Bodies, Liz asks why some knowledge is honored, some erased, and some declared dangerous. She explores witches, cultural humility, aesthetic equity, and the hidden systems that decide whose stories and bodies belong.In this episode, we will learn about:Wicked Bodies — and what witches reveal about power, fear, and whose knowledge counts.Cultural humility and aesthetic equity — practices for entering communities without assuming authority.No singular stories — why meaningful work is built through shared inquiry, relationship, and consent.Listen for what these ideas reveal about entering another community—not as its interpreter or savior, but as a curious, accountable partner.