“DIVERSITY MATTERS”, a blog by Zoë Muntaner*

Zoë Muntaner* chose to illustrate her text”DIVERSITY SPRING” with the powerful portraits work of Donald Trump (below) by artist Nancy Burson, shown at ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica

 

Nancy Burson pioneered the use of digital morphing technologies in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid-1970’s and has been stretching the limits of portraiture through digital manipulation ever since.  Present at the onset of basic image processing techniques devised a decade before the advent of Photoshop,  Burson created convincing composite portraits of fictional people, and assisted law enforcement agencies in finding missing children and adults. Her work challenges us to examine the ways in which we see and judge one another’s face.

Read more about Nancy Burson's work shown at ROSEGALLERY "What If He Were:Black-Asian-Hispanic-Middle Eastern-Indian" 

 

“Diversity” has hit a critical mass of awareness.
by Zoë Muntaner*, March 28th

I have always wondered about the true meaning of diversity and its role in a community and a nation at large. It always seems like it’s the right thing to say when you wish to garner votes (except Donald Trump) but in the moment of truth communities vote for projects that disenfranchise the poor (where diversity is more apparent) to open way for less integrated neighborhoods. Is Santa Monica one of those communities?

Is that time of the year, the word diversity is coming to the forefront. We have a presidential election and candidates want to bask in their diversity credentials. The President visited Cuba this week and with it the hope that the embargo will be lifted soon.

I remember the Arab Spring, so much hope and possibility that things could change. That Spring came with a short lived revolution, and for a moment, the Arab people felt their voice and power rise to the occasion. I was there, I witnessed the regional change because I lived in Dubai during those turbulent times and learned about the diversity of the Arab, Persian, Pakistani and Indian people. It was an adventure and I am glad to be safe at home. I love my flawed democracy.

*Zoë Muntaner is a writer/blogger. She is the Founder of Compassionate Santa Monica: diversitymatters.co