Surviving the Long Wars: Unlikely Entanglements Opening Program & Performance

The Hyde Park Art Center’s Triennial exhibit SURVIVING THE LONG WARS: Unlikely Entanglements opens with a series of performances entitled The Space Between. The program will showcase artists whose work focuses on the lived experiences and complex perspectives of GWOT veterans and of descendants and survivors of the long wars. Dancer Hussein Smko, spoken word artist Hipólito Arriaga III, and performance artist GOODW.Y.N. will explore topics of identity, solidarity, and liberation through their expressive practices.

Hussein Smko was the Adel Euro Fellow from 2016–2020. He is a self-trained Kurdish choreographer whose talent was spotted by Battery Dance in 2014. He has taught in New York City public schools and in the Spoken Word and Dance program at USC in Los Angeles. Hussein founded his own dance company, Project Tag, which is based in New York City.

Hipólito Arriaga III [US Marine Corps veteran] is a writer and performer born and raised in the South Bronx, New York City. In 2003, at age nineteen, he joined the Marine Corps and served four years, including two deployments to Iraq. He completed his undergraduate degree in theater at Nova Southeastern University.

GOODW.Y.N. [US Army veteran] writes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and hybrid fiction. She is an Iraq War veteran, body-performance artist, and Pushcart nominee whose work focuses on several projects, including her ongoing work-in-progress Ain’t I a Woman (?/!).

ABOUT ‘SURVIVING THE LONG WARS’ PROJECT:

From the US “Indian Wars” to the “Global War on Terror,” Surviving the Long Wars explores the multiple overlapping histories that shape our understanding of warfare, as well as alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice generated by diverse communities impacted by war.

Inspired by the powerful artwork of Indigenous and Native American artists responding to the US “Indian Wars,” and artists of the Greater Middle East reacting to the “Global War on Terror,” Surviving the Long Wars focuses on how these artistic responses complicate and entangle with the artistic practices of veterans. The featured artworks, projects, and programs create opportunities for people to deepen their understanding of the impact of war.