If you’ve seen #artho or #arthoe cropping up all over social media, you’ll quickly realize that it’s more than just another hashtag or selfie trend — it’s a movement.
According to Mars, the 15-year-old co-founder of this political-art movement, “the purpose of the Art Hoe Collective is to provide an inclusive and innovative platform for POC.” Mars goes on to explain that, as a non-binary person of color, they rarely see the groups with which they identify portrayed prominently in art or media, and that's something they want to change.
Read the full interview with Mars and Myles, a curator for the Art Hoe Collective. Share and tag your images with #artincolor to contribute to the movement, and follow along on the Art Hoe Collective VSCO.
What is Art Hoe Collective's purpose? Can you explain the selfies taken with backgrounds of fine art?
MARS: As a collective we believe that representation is key for a platform that wants to give a voice to marginalized groups… As POC we acknowledge that we are constantly being exploited, disregarded, manipulated, or subdued. It’s time that we have an empowering platform that works to defy what holds us back.
MYLES: When I first found Mars on Tumblr, I saw [the selfies] gracefully posed against a Renaissance painting. As the Art Hoe movement grew, more and more people started doing them. These superimposed selfies have become an Art Hoe trademark, and are a way for people of color to literally insert themselves into famous works of art. POC aren’t often seen in the paintings in art museums, so what better way to peacefully protest that than by pasting yourself on top of Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” or Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”? These selfies are not simply for aesthetics, they are a form of rebellion, they contain a powerful message.
What’s the importance of the demographics of creatives you choose to highlight through your collective?
MYLES: It’s essential that we focus on marginalized creatives because of their obvious lack of representation in mainstream media. It’s hard for most people to name many POC, LGBT, or disabled creatives off the top of their head. How many black trans painters do you know? How many disabled poets do you know? Representation is everything! When we shine a spotlight on a latinx dancer, or a black photographer, it inspires others to continue creating, promotes diversity, and uplifts the entire community.
You focus on groups that deal with great adversity and oppression; what do you find the collective has done for the emerging participants in your communities?
MYLES: Currently we’ve been giving them access to an audience larger than what they may have been able to access on their own. Our instagram account is currently at 19.1k followers, so when we post someone's work it’s very possible that thousands of people will see it. A few of our regular contributors have been contacted for interviews, and have been featured in other blogs after being published on Art Hoe Collective. As we grow and develop, we want to be able to provide more tangible resources for the creatives that we cater to, and really help them to get their feet wet in the creative world.
MARS: The Art Hoe Collective, while still in its infancy, has done a lot for the empowerment of POC. But there is room for improvement. To acknowledge groups who deal with oppression you must pinpoint their struggles and not subdue their voices. Especially if your platform works to reform these social, political, and economic injustices. The narratives of marginalized groups are constantly dimmed and exploited. Society presents a vague acknowledgement to the severity of their oppression. Their voices are minimized. It’s imperative to have these people on our platform and not continue to speak for them.
What are some of the struggles and triumphs of running an online-based community and collective?
MYLES: One of the biggest triumphs is definitely the ability to reach people worldwide. We’ve had submissions from pretty much every continent, and most of our following comes from places all over the world. Being online is also great for immediate feedback and interaction with your audience.
MARS: Since our platform is online it’s subjected to manipulation and misinterpretation. When you’re online you’re easily subjected to criticism because you’re always being observed. This can be both overwhelming and frustrating. On the [other hand] our project can reach a broad range of participants when being broadcasted on social media. The conversation isn’t narrow if it’s being dissected and chatted about from an online community. This leaves room for the respectability politics within these marginalized communities to grow and intersect.
What’s next for the movement? For yourselves?
MARS: We are currently working to expand the collective to a website and possibly push the movement outside of social media. Right now we are working on curating shows and making a name for ourselves. We are also trying to create a balance between our school work and extracurriculars. My personal goal is to to gain self assurance and realize the impact I’ve made on people. I’m the youngest in the collective so I really want to push myself as a creative and as a person. This is the age where you start forming your own opinions and politics. Everything right now is an ongoing learning process for me.
MYLES: Although we are still in our infancy, the collective has gained notoriety and a strong following of creatives and non-creatives from all walks of life. In spite of all this, we are still quite a long way from our goal. Creating opportunities for marginalized artists is a huge part of our core values, and we plan on doing so through community outreach — hosting events for local creatives to show their work and network with others. Whats next for me? Well, in the next year I’ll be graduating and hopefully moving on to art school in New York City, so I want to network, and create and discover myself. In addition, I just want to keep doing my best to maintain and improve upon what we do at Art Hoe Collective.
Share and tag your images with #artincolor to contribute to the movement, and follow along on the Art Hoe Collective VSCO.
*This interview has been edited and condensed.
