Bridging Political Divides with Artist David Deighton

Artist David Deighton was born in Paris and began traveling Europe and the world at age 14. After years of nomadic exploration, he and his wife decided to settle down in Santa Fe in the Southwest United States.  He installs his unconventional “art experiment,” called Triptych Dialogue, in national parks across the United States and beyond. It is part of his mission to rekindle social connections face-to-face, to seek civility and to resist the digital echo chamber.  In fact, he first tried the experiment of bridging the political divide using social media. Not only was it an uncivil arena, he was “shadow banned” and even received death threats from across the boundaries he was trying to cross.  That’s when he knew the only way to find common ground was through words, and in person, by asking three questions and listening. He admits that even starting the conversations is not easy, even with the tool of a microphone in hand.  Each conversation ends with a question about “one word” that represents and encapsulates the participant’s thoughts in the interview. It is these words that form a kind of lyrical underpinning to the videos and to the project itself.  David posts videos on YouTube of his interactions with strangers at the Triptych Dialogue art installations. At the national parks, David asks his three questions of Americans visiting and tourists from around the world, who are drawn to the beauty of the national parks, particularly the Grand Canyon. Fans of the New Mexico landscape will appreciate David’s ventures to Pecos National Historical Park, White Sands National Park, Carlsbad Caverns and even the Roswell Courthouse.  David also substitute teaches in the Santa Fe public school system and discusses his successful use of the same technique--three questions followed by the "one word" capper--with his students.  When we spoke, David was on his way to Colombia to take the Triptych Dialogue art experiment to another continent and see what civility he could find there.  To see the yearlong social media experiment David ran, check out Triptych Dialogue on Instagram: instagram.com/triptych_dialogue To see the ongoing Triptych Dialogue videos, check out YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@triptych-dialogue More about Servas: https://servas.org/ Contact David Deighton YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@triptych-dialogue CREDITSHost and creator: Christi CassidyContact: [email protected] by Phyllis BusellMusic by Eve’s Blue. Post-production help from Auphonic.com.Show notes written with assistance from Descript and Claude.ai. LINKS:More information and to listen to past episodes: https://movingalongpodcast.comPast episodes are here too: https://moving-along.simplecast.com/Tag and like Moving Along episodes on Facebook and Instagram