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With MAP Project, Artists Aim Their Work At Social Change

Alex Katis
Janeil Engelstad in residence at Art MIll in the Czech Republic.

This fall, dozens of art projects will emerge across North Texas with a common goal – creating social change. The projects are part of an initiative called Make Art With Purpose – or MAP. Janeil Engelstad leads the effort.

By the early 1990s, Engelstad’s career was already on the rise. She’d earned an MFA in photography from NYU. Her work was included in gallery shows.

But as her professional life was taking off, she began volunteering, teaching photography to homeless kids. She got hooked on the combination of art and social activism.

“I was in a group show where I had three straight photographs," Engelstad said. "And it wasn’t that I didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment -- I felt like I was showing something that I was no longer connected to and it didn’t make sense for me."

Engelstad decided to shift her focus to social art. And she’s become a force in the growing field, creating work around the world and lecturing at universities. She’s lived in Dallas for more than a decade, and now she’s finally taking on a major venture in her adopted hometown.

Engelstad has recruited artists from North Texas and around the world for Make Art With Purpose, a collection of art projects that address issues as varied as domestic violence, immigration, gentrification and environmental concerns.

Morehshin Allahyari is a new-media artist and visiting assistant professor at University of Texas at Dallas. She moved to the U.S. from Iran in 2007, but her homeland’s history of censorship has stayed with her. Since 2010, she’s been working on an online video performance art piece in which she teaches viewers how to censor.

Later this month, Allahyari will explore censorship with a live audience for her contribution to MAP. At UTD, visitors will watch a similar performance piece and be asked for their feedback.

“It’s not just about a person coming and seeing a performance,” she says. “It’s really about community building, it’s about getting the people who are there or who are interested in topics like this to participate, or if they don’t know much about it, think deeper.”

KERA's Stephen Becker has more on the story.

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Stephen Becker is executive producer of the "Think with Krys Boyd," which airs on more than 200 stations across the country. Prior to joining the Think team in 2013, as part of the Art&Seek team, Stephen produced radio and digital stories and hosted "The Big Screen" — a weekly radio segment about North Texas film — with Chris Vognar.