Envisioning New Futures: Von
Envisioning New Futures tells the stories and experiences of community members as they share their hopes, goals and successes being in community. Exploring the past and present to envision new futures!
What Motivates you and Grounds your Work in Community Action?
Von is motivated by the feeling of increased knowledge and doing the work of engaging community. For Von he continues to find enjoyment in the work of creating art; people coming together to share. Von is liking how he has to listen and capture the communities lived experience to then depict through art.
How can art facilitate and bridge understanding?
Meet Von Zuniga (He/Him), Von was born in the Philippines and came to live in Jasper, Alberta at the age of 15. Von is a Muralist and is part of an artist collective, FilipinX Kasaganaan. Von and the fellow collective members engaged community members to highlight their experiences.
What Possibilities do you see in your community for a just and decolonial future?
For Von the future looks like mental health support and reconciling with our past. Von believes that we have to look at our past and learn from our collective mistakes, “Communities should be aware of their mistakes so when we move forward we don’t do it again”. Von thinks starting early and having conversations in school to help the next generation learn, “I think we should learn from our mistakes, honestly, and we shouldn't try and hide our past. Because if we repeat what we did before and not learn, we’ll never know what we did wrong.”
Finding similarities between Indigenous Elders and FilipinX Elders.
What’s one word to describe what brings you hope for the future?
“Learning from each other.”
Von and Chantelle share about how language impacts culture!
