Presented by MFA Art Practice

Art, Community, Accountability & Agape Love in a Post-Trump Administration

Feb 4, 2021; 6:00 - 7:30pm
A red heart on a blue background, overlaid with block letters reading: "Art, community, accountability & agape love in a post-Trump administration"

MFA Art Practice and BFA Fine Arts faculty member Angel Abreu of Studio K.O.S. will moderate a conversation with Ken Tan, Jeannine A. Cook and fellow K.O.S. member and BFA Fine Arts faculty member Robert Branch on communities’ and artists’ roles in healing from the current social unrest. 


Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., often spoke of the Greek word for love, agape:


“Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object… Agape is disinterested love. It is a love in which the individual seeks not his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. It is an entirely ”neighbor-regarding concern for others,“ which discovers the neighbor in every man it meets. Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friends and enemy; it is directed toward both. If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of the benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend’s own sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution.” 


Are these fleeting ideas? Is there hope for real, sustainable community going forward? These will be part of this conversation. Register here to join on Zoom. Presented by MFA Art Practice.


Note: All events listed on sva.edu/events are in Eastern Time (ET).