John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art 2019, Artists and American Communities: Part 8

Eric Gottesman, artist and cofounder, For Freedoms, and assistant professor of art, Purchase College, State University of New York. Eric Gottesman photographs, writes, makes videos, and teaches, using art to explore aesthetic, social and political culture; his work has taken him to countries like Ethiopia and Jordan and to indigenous communities in Canada with projects that have questioned nationhood and investigated local histories. With For Freedoms, “a platform for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action” founded in 2016 in collaboration with artist Hank Willis Thomas, Gottesman partners with institutions and communities all over the United States to facilitate meaningful political discourse and engaged citizenship through art. Gottesman spoke about his use of art for community-building at the John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art, “American Communities, Then and Now,” held on February 8, 2019.