“I worked with Fantani Touré who was from Bamako and she was fighting against genital mutilation and forced marriage— things we don’t have to deal with very much in this country. I interviewed her… no-one in the west had ever interviewed her and she’d developed a community of women where instead of doing the surgeries to each other, she created a whole craft. They were sewing and beading and making dresses and beautiful beads. She was creating business that was alternative to genital mutilation so that these women had money. She and I created a whole show at Louis Vuitton. We created tech-space beading pieces and we paid Paris wages. That was the project… on the top floor of Louis Vuitton Champs-Élysées and Fantani was in the rotunda, projected and it was beautiful!”

In this week’s episode of THE IDEALISTS, we talk to Andrea Bowers who The New York Times calls one of the United State’s foremost political artists. For more than 30 years, Andrea has built an international reputation as a chronicler of contemporary history, documenting activism as it unfolds and collecting research on the front lines of protest. Her practice contends with issues such as immigration rights, workers’ rights, climate justice, and women’s rights, illustrating the shared pursuit of justice that connects them.

What we enjoyed most about this episode is hearing Andrea’s take on the line between justice and righteousness.