For three weeks this past spring, Links Hall was the site of a convening organized by Iraq veteran Aaron Hughes and Amber Ginsburg, lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Art. Devised around the tea rituals Hughes experienced in the Middle East post-deployment, here they were used to provoke discussion and reflection on the role of the Global War on Terror. Covering a vast amount of ground, the efforts were instrumental in helping draw back the curtain on the systemic racism against black, brown and the less-economically privileged, and of the Islamophobia driving America’s endless war. A triumph of melding artistry and activism.
