MFA Design for Social Innovation hosted creative conversations on solidarity, legacy, activism, and art with Akemi Kochiyama-Ladson, traci kato-kiriyama, and special guests.

Akemi Kochiyama-Ladson spoke about the Yuri Kochiyama Solidarity Project, which honors Kochiyama’s legacy and carries on her commitment to bringing people together and building cross-movement, cross-racial solidarity in support of human rights, dignity, and self-determination for all oppressed people.

The afternoon also included a reading by traci kato-kiriyama from their book of poetry, “Navigating With(out) Instruments,” and a discussion about a new installation-performance-community organizing project linking actions and conversations on provenance, Reparations, solidarity, collective healing, and the reclamation of “items” that are missing, stolen, and/or lost.

MFA Design for Social Innovation at the School of Visual Arts presented this event at the program studio in Chelsea, New York City, where attendees were invited to share projects, engage in conversations, mingle over snacks, and stimulate meaningful interaction and connections among all present.