Rosary Solimanto (New York, NY, USA): Beggar
- Duration: 120 min
- Watch: 30th November 2017 at 5pm UTC – recording of the performance will be shown on 2nd December 2017 at 3am UTC
DESCRIPTION: Out front of Trump Tower, 725 5th Ave, Manhattan, from 12-5 as the Beggar, in a patient gown, medical ID bracelet, bare feet with a cardboard sign and a cup, begging for help as a political performance protest. On October 12, 2017, Trump signed an executive cutting Medicare and Medicaid by 1.5 trillion dollars to allow for tax breaks to 1% richest people (which is in the works as we speak). There is also talk of cutting Social Security Benefits as well as housing into 5.8 trillion dollar tax cut (affecting housing, education, and healthcare). This plan will destroy my life and millions of others like myself who depend upon Human Services because of our physical and or mental health conditions which limit our jobs. Employers look at people like myself and calculate what I may cost them, not what I could give them, leaving me and others like me, needing Social Security to provide shelter, food, and healthcare. If I have the little bit I receive taken away – which is happening and has happened – my daughter and I will become \”beggars\” panhandling in the streets for basic human rights. I want the people to know what these \”cuts\” will do, who it will effect and the end result. And I figured what better place to do this but in front of Trump Tower, where most people have no idea of what\’s happening because it\’s not affecting them. So I disrupted their day and gave them food for thought with this performance. These cuts will benefit the wealthiest companies in the world. The history of the \”beggar\” for hundreds of years is typically due to people no longer being able to work (due to a health condition) and begging for money, food and shelter. My daughter Veronica Conklin will join me at this event as my support, photographer and videographer. I am disABLEd, as I have multiple sclerosis, arthritis, hypothyroid, and have had 8 surgeries, among many other health conditions.
BIO: The interdisciplinary activist artist Rosary Solimanto, explores oppression and societal stigmas living with multiple sclerosis. She encourages political and social discourse on disABILITY identity to unfold to empower the disABLEd. She approaches biology, healthcare and medicine from a humanitarian perspective. Solimanto is an emerging artist graduating from SUNY New Paltz in 2015. Since then she has exhibited and or performed across the United States, Toronto, London, China and Spain. She has performed for O + Festivals, The International Human Rights Art Festival, Itinerant Festivals, Nuit Blanche, Inverse Performance Festival and exhibited and or performed at eleven international museums. Awards include Parnassus Award in Fine Arts at SUNY Adirondack; Kulakoff Award at SUNY Albany; Art Garden Community Supported Art Award at Arts Unbound, New Jersey, and the Sojourner Truth Fellowship at SUNY New Paltz, New York. She was a selected participant for the activist program, Emerge NYC at New York University. In 2017 her work was featured in Art in America Magazine and Hyperallergic. She currently lives and works in the New York’s metropolitan area. Artist Website