An Intro To Lou

This Website!

I made this! Anyone can make and host a free website on github. I used a lot of w3schools, some chat gpt (though now I'm hoping to use less extractive and tech-oligarch-supporting systems), and help from others. I hope to improve it but I also might not. With this website I'm asking what's possible when we embrace slow process over shiny product, especially in the age of AI. Or it's just a cop out! 🤷 It is a continuous scroll organized in mostly chronological order, highlighting current socially-engaged work with visual work towards the bottom.

18 Minutes (2025)

a group of people stand in front of a cemetery wall

a black and white photograph of water on the ground next to partcipant's shoes

a man photographs three people standing in front of a wall. One holds a sign that reads 'my ancestors tell me there's no safety in genocide.' behind them are pictures of israeli hostages

Responding the the cooptation of the walls of the Jewish Cemetery in Prague to host pictures of Israeli hostages in the midst of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, I invited participants to join me for 18 minutes of silence while I held a hand painted sign that read "My ancestors tell me there's no safety in genocide." 18 is an important number in gematria, or Jewish numerology, representing life. Photos by a*dande

Songs Against Dark Times (2024-25)

a circle of seated people with song sheets

song lyrics hanging next to a flag that reads 'singing will save the world'

In collaboration with Simeen Anjum, Songs for Dark Times Like These is an ongoing song circle in unexpected places. Building off of Simeen’s project that began in the fall of 2023, we hosted two singing circles in the fall of 2024. These informal yet structured spaces believe in the power of song to connect us to each other and to those who have sung before us to better face incoming facism and climate collapse. By singing songs of resistance found in Simeen’s home of Delhi as well as in protest cultures of the United States and around the world, we respond to Bertolt Brecht’s question: “In the dark times, will there also be singing?” with an enthusiastic yes.

Drone Sing-a-long (2025)

a group of people in a circle in a mall parking garage basement

two white hands knocking and drumming on a metal surface

four people walking around a basement machine

In 2025, I hosted three iterations of a drone sing a long in the basement of the Lloyd Center Mall. Drawn to the mechanical droning hum of the mall’s underbelly, holding a consistent note somewhere between a Bflat and a B, I invited participants to sing a long through various sounds, physical movements, and sonic meditations drawn from Pauline Oliveros.

Alice's Anger and Alice's Dream (2024-2025)

alice's drawing of Kamala on a mountain top under a rainbow

alice and me holding up our finished chapbooks

As part of a mentorship program through the King School Museum of Contemporary Art, an art museum inside of an elementary school in Northeast Portland, I met with Alice once a week for the 24-25 school year. We began by drawing our visions of the future and throwing them through the hallways of the school, reminding us there were still things we could do to bring our visions into reality. We continued working to bring Alice's visions into reality, one of which was a lesbian royal romance novel written in her head. We worked to write and design the first chapter of the novel, and published a limited edition of 30 copies.

A Bathroom for Everyone! (2024)

a security guard removes the all-gender restroom sign outside of the bathroom

screenprinted papertowels, roses, and safer drug use supplies

group of people in the bathroom taking items with them

Conducted during Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice Program annual Assembly, I installed an all user restroom in the family bathroom at Portland’s Lloyd Center Mall for one day on June 8th, 2024. I remade the mall signage to better instruct users on how to access the “family restroom,” the only non-gendered restroom in the mall, which also required a security guard to open. Accompanying the signage change, which was quickly removed by mall security, were paper towels that asked the questions “where is the center of your body?”, “what do you need right now?”, and “what does safety feel like in your body?”, and a zine detailing the project. I arranged basic needs supplies in the bathroom, such as pads and tampons, narcan, water, and candies to make the bathroom more inviting and accessible for the many different kinds of people who might use it. After some back and forth with security, I was asked to removed the supplies, begging the question: what threat does an accessible restroom pose?

Sky Play (2024)

a large group of people observing the sun

two lawn chairs looking out over the sunset

people jumping rope against the setting sun

Brought together by a shared love of the sky and desire to appreciate the everday mundane, Sky Play was an interactive performance by the sun, positioning park goers as the audience. Hosted by Taking Our Time Collective (me, Simeen Anjum, Clara Harlow, and Nina Vichayapai, attendees were invited to play and watch the sunset on comfortable beach chairs and blankets and provided traditional theater snacks like candy and popcorn as well as sun tea.