Current MCAD MFA student Zoe Cinel and MCAD MFA alum Essma Imady were among a group of local artists invited to respond to Carey Young's work, Declared Void II (2013). Young's work is currently on display at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis as part of the exhibition I am you, you are too. "Artworks have the power to bear witness to relationships between people and seize an image of a society at a moment in history. In pulling such stories from the past into the present, artworks command renewed relevance and timeliness in relation to current social, cultural, and political realities. I am you, you are too draws from the Walker Art Center’s collection, foregrounding works that gather a pertinent resonance given our current time of immense social upheaval, division, and instability." Read more about the exhibition here. On April 5, artists stepped inside the box of Young's piece to ask questions about immigration, citizenship, and nationalism. Cinel's response to Young's work was a collaborative performance piece titled It's Not That Simple. About the work Cinel says: "For this piece [It’s Not That Simple], I worked with Maryam Houshyar, who I met in the summer of 2017. We connected after sharing that we both felt vulnerable and disoriented as foreigners. We started from our personal sense of powerlessness as immigrants who have to prove on a daily basis that we are good enough and gain our “right” to be somewhere. We created a universal image that can apply to many people who struggle to adjust and work hard to belong somewhere." Read more about Cinel's thoughts on her work and what she calls the "politics of geography" in an interview with Jacqueline Stahlmann for The Walker here. Photography by Yi Wan. For more information: Citizenship Series I am you, you are too Carey Young Zoe Cinel Essma Imady Categories All Alumni Events Student Activities