Angelic Goldsky [t(he)y] is a queer trans-gender Russian-Jewish poet and media visionary. As an advocate for justice in media, specifically towards imaginations of queerness, Angelic has facilitated workshops across North America. A working group member of the Studio for Media Activism and Critical Thought at Ryerson University, and a dedicated researcher of emancipatory media systems, Angelic loves dreaming outside of systems of violence, digging up language, and moving towards multiplicity.
Angelic has developed programs in partnership with the Museum of Anthropology, Jewish Queer Trans Vancouver and Everybody Is In Downtown Eastside, working in community cohesion through art and media. At the University of British Columbia, they founded the Artivism: Festival of Creative Resistance and co-curated UBC’s 2SLGBTQQIA+ Pride Festival. Throughout their studies, they developed research projects on the representations of sexual violence within news broadcasts as well as the oppressive algorithms dictating Google Images.
Angelic is a white settler who grew up on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) peoples. Angelic holds a Bachelor of Media Studies from the University of British Columbia. They are expected to graduate with an MA in Arts Politics from New York University in 2021.
Artist Website: angelicgoldsky.net
Artist Instagram: instagram.com/angelic.unt
Artist Twitter: twitter.com/free_angelica
Presentation Description
Angelic Goldsky will be discussing how the site of the social justice meme can be a place of stagnation instead of a place for public reckoning for deep historical-cultural trauma. Looking at specific examples of memes such as the common, “Trans women are women,” “ACAB, and other photos of symbolic solidarity for social movements have lived on social media, Goldsky will open the discussion to what lives underneath and beyond the meme.