Creative Care: Artistic Action in the Stop Cop City Movement

Abstract

The Weelaunee Forest, also known as the South River or Atlanta Forest, is currently receiving national attention as protestors from the Stop Cop City (SCC) movement attempt to protect the land from being cleared for the development of a large-scale police training facility. Relying on a combination of existing scholarly literature, recent news articles, and two personally collected interviews, my research investigates the role of artistic and creative forms of activism, resistance, and community support in SCC movement. I apply ethics of care to this research by focusing on the ways artistic activism encourages multiplicity of perspectives, responds to psychological needs, and facilitates alternative forms of communication that bridge distances of difference. Ultimately, this paper advocates for the irreplaceable importance of creative expression and artistic meaning making in local efforts to resist cycles of institutionalized oppression.