All Saints Church
132 N Euclid Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101

Join Irenic Projects for a critical conversation at All Saints Church, Pasadena, about the rise of Chrisian Nationalism and its strangle hold on Creative Expression and Academic Freedom. This discussion will be moderated by Mike Hernandez, artist and founder of Irenic Projects, in dialog with Los Angeles based artists Astri Swendsrud and Elana Mann. Swendsrud and Mann will discuss their recent encounters with artistic censorship, online harassment and unjustified termination inside and outside of Conservative Christian Universities. The three speakers will discuss national trends, what led up to the current political climate and how we can work together to fight this destructive movement threatening to unravel our social, political and moral bonds.

Bios

Astri Swendsrud is a Los Angeles-based artist whose multi-disciplinary practice investigates the ways in which humans form meaning, posing questions regarding belief, interpretation, and the instinct to seek and place significance in patterns. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally, including at JOAN, The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Visitor Welcome Center, Richard Telles Fine Art, TSALA, Irenic Projects, General Projects and the Vincent Price Museum. Additionally, Swendsrud is part of the collaborative project Semi-Tropic Spiritualists, and their book The Semi-Tropic Spiritualist’s Guidebook was published by Insert Press in 2018. She was also co-founder and co-director of Elephant, an artist-run space in Los Angeles from 2010-2023. She received her MFA from CalArts in 2008.

Elana Mann is an artist and activist who works in the intersection of sculpture, sound and social advocacy. Mann was born Hard of Hearing and for twenty years she has researched the act of listening through objects, public engagement and performances/protests. Her recent artworks focus on freedom of speech, eco-listening, disability and gender equity. She has presented her work in museums, galleries, and public spaces in the U.S. and globally including Artpace (San Antonio, TX) the Getty Villa Museum (Malibu, CA), and REDCAT (Los Angeles, CA). Mann has a permanent public art installation at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office and her artwork is held in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Getty Research Institute, and the University of Chicago, among others.

Gregory Michael Hernandez is an artist whose landscape based works explore the intersection of religion and politics. A self described Christian Atheist, Mike is deeply religious in that he continues to dedicate himself to the interpretation and function of Christian belief systems, but without personal belief in a metaphysical God. He founded Irenic Projects in 2019 as a model for bridging progressive religious communities and non-religious culture makers. Mike is the Artist in Residence of All Saints Pasadena and his work is in the permanent collection of MOCA (Los Angeles, CA) and LACMA (Los Angeles, CA).