Arizona photographer Sama Alshaibi said Democratic campaigners regularly knock on her door, sometimes as many as three times a day. But she said she feels they are not looking for her voice as an Iraqi-Palestinian in the battleground state. neck and neck race.
“My husband is who they want to vote for,” Alshaibi said Hyperallergic. “They’ve never asked what I’m doing.”
Born in Iraq, Alshaibi became eligible to vote in 2004 during former President George W. Bush’s second term. She believes “the ability to vote is absolutely central” and is considering voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein platform expressly opposes the Israeli war on Gaza.
“We have been made invisible, and I am not going to contribute to that by not voting, so with Jill Stein’s vote there is a voice for her platform that recognizes Palestine,” Alshaibi said.
Disillusioned with the choice between red and blue candidates, voters like Alshaibi are choosing to move to a third party or run alone in local elections.
Hyperallergic asked six artists how they felt about the candidates running for office, what issues concerned them most about the election, and how they planned to vote.
Some said they will abstain from voting in the presidential race, citing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ outspoken support for Israel, while others will vote blue in an effort to preserve civil liberties and protections against former Republican President Donald Trump to keep him from his position. Among the top hot-button issues that artists said would shape their voices include funding for the Israeli military, immigrant rights, reproductive freedoms and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Alshaibi also focuses on the Senate race and ballot measures in Arizona Proposition 139that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Other proposed measures could change the way Arizonans vote in future elections.
“I know my local voice is extremely important,” Alshaibi said. “Those are the most consequential votes in this vote.”
In Lower Manhattan, photographer William Chan has advocated for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and participated in voter registration drives. He said he voted for Biden in 2020, but in this election he will not vote for Kamala Harris, U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman or U.S. Sen. Kristin Gillibrand because of their support for Israel.
“I’m not throwing my vote away. I’m just voting my conscience,” he said Hyperallergic.
He is a former veteran who served in the US military’s invasion of Iraq and is considering writing “Gaza” or the name of a murdered Palestinian child in the ballot box.
“I was in the U.S. Army and was part of the invasion of Iraq,” Chan said. “I don’t want anyone to suffer as much as Iraqi civilians do, and I see that now in Gaza.”
Celeste Viv Ly, a queer Cantonese-American interdisciplinary artist based in London and New York City, said they are unlikely to vote in this election as “an active choice to resist endorsing candidates” they do not support. This is the second general election cycle in which they are old enough to vote. Among their biggest concerns are Israeli attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the right to abortion.
“As an artist, I am drawn to observing and questioning systems of power,” says Ly. “I wonder whether, overall, current political options represent the kind of transformative vision needed to address today’s complexities.”
Those who withhold their votes, Ly added, could be pushed to participate in “more ongoing and community-driven efforts” to enact change between election cycles.
Kenny Rivero, a Dominican-American painter and assistant professor of visual arts at Columbia University, lent his work to the Art for Change campaign on behalf of Michelle Obama’s nonpartisan organization When We All Vote.
Although some of his relatives don’t vote at all, he said Hyperallergic that he is inclined to vote Democrat on key issues involving reproductive rights, incarceration and immigration reform. In the run-up to the election, Rivero said he lent his studio to activists to make banners, including pro-Palestinian protesters.
“There are a lot of people who can’t vote and would like to vote,” Rivero said. Data has shown that voters are being disenfranchised disproportionately affected locked up people.
Alicia Grullón, an artist and activist based in the Bronx, will vote in this election, but doesn’t know who yet.
“I’m going to vote, and I’m not going to tell anyone [vote],” said Grullón. On the ballot in New York City, there are only two options for president: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Third party candidates must be enrolled. “It’s a vote based on people’s ignorance,” she continued.
Grullón mainly focused her attention on the six statements on the back of the ballot paper Proposal 1 – the entire state Equal Rights Amendment that protects against discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, pregnancy and national origin. She is also concerned about other measures that would cause problems mayor more power on a number of legislative processes.
Grullón is weighing her vote in the presidential race against the prospect of Project 2025 becoming a reality, which will undoubtedly lead to mass deportations, she said. She is also concerned about taxpayer money going to Israel.
Brooklyn artist Adama Delphine Fawundu said Hyperallergic that while she plans to vote for Kamala Harris, she is tired of going through election cycles “where we vote for the ‘lesser evil’.” Her video performance “In the Face of History Freedom Cape” (2020), which argues with the issue of voting in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, is currently on view until December 1 at the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park.
When she rewatched the piece, Fawundu said, she got “chills.”
“Because it was like, ‘Here we are again with these mixed feelings about our future and who’s going to be president,’” the artist said. She is still researching the candidates running in this year’s judicial races across the countryand emphasized the importance of working with local elected officials outside of election cycles.
“I don’t think we should wait until it’s time to vote and be so fed up with it,” Fawundu said.
