We Are All Americans, 2018 - ongoing

a socially engaged documentary project in the form of an oral history recording workshop series and an audio podcast available on apple iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport, I am recording conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity. Utilizing strategies of documentary and social practice, “We Are All Americans,” seeks to counter xenophobia and foster empathy through humanizing those who have experienced discrimination, migration, immigration and displacement, while also recognizing the complexity of the term “American,” with regard to all nations in the Americas.

Supported in part Asylum Arts, Community Works Institute, ICA LA, Institute for Jewish Creativity, Otis College of Art and Design and Side Street Projects.

Contact Michele to participate. Conversations are recorded by appointment and during scheduled workshops.

Press:

Habiba Hopson, “Field Workshop: Action Projects: We Are All Americans: Podcast Sessions,” Yellow Pages, ICA LA, August 21, 2020

image credit: graphic design by Milly JC. Designs

Workshop Dates:

Feb. 28, 2023: We Are All Americans: Oral History Recording Workshop, as part of Telling Stories, El Camino College Art Gallery, Torrance, CA

Oct. 29, 2022: We Are All Americans: Oral History Recording Workshop, as part of Un-Civil War! (An Election Special), Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

August 21, 2020: We Are All Americans, as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects at ICA LA, Los Angeles, CA

March 31, 2020: We Are All Americans: Oral History Recording Workshop for NuRoots, Los Angeles, CA - postponed due to COVID-19

July 22, 2019: Oral History Podcast Recording Workshop at Community Works Institute, Los Angeles, CA

April 9, 2019: We Are All Americans: Oral History Recording Skill Session at Reciprocity Los Angeles Artists Retreat, Organized by Asylum Arts and the Institute for Jewish Creativity, Simi Valley, CA

August 19, 2018: Oral History Recording Workshop, as part of Maiden L.A. at Michele’s studio in Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA

May 19, 2018: Skillshare at Side Street Projects, Pasadena, CA

We Are All Americans - season 3 - episode 3

October 18, 2021

In episode three of season three*, Marjan Vayghan talks about the challenges and inadequacies of her American education as a new immigrant from Iran in the mid-nineties, and her uncle’s disappearance after arriving at LAX from Iran during Trump’s travel ban in 2017, while also asking Michele about the optimism of bringing a child into this messed up world.

*Recorded on July 27, 2020 via Zoom, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.