D.R.O.P.S. Continues to Make Waves with Publishing of Zine
Wheelhouse Artist-in-Residence Tiffany Ike’s groundbreaking project called D.R.O.P.S. (Discrimination, Racism, Oppression, Prejudice, Stereotyping) has culminated in a zine that includes art, writing, photos and performance quotes that capture her entire project.
Ike served as the artist-in-residence for the 2015-2016 academic year at the Wisconsin Union’s Wheelhouse Studios.
Wheelhouse Studios offers free drop-in art projects, art classes and three artist workspaces. Every year, the program also supports an artist-in-residence.
During her time as the student artist-in-residence, through D.R.O.P.S., Ike engaged students at University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) and the broader community in a dialogue about race relations and how words affect our race relations discussions.
The first part of the project was an interactive art piece titled “The Thought Box.” This piece featured a canvas, which had a racial slur displayed on it, and a box. People were encouraged to write out and place their reactions to the slur in the box. One drop box remained outside Wheelhouse Studios, while another traveled to different locations at UW-Madison.
Ike used the responses to create the second part of her project, a one-woman live performance regarding race relations experiences on campus. The show took place on February 11. Then, on March 16, Ike gave an encore performance in collaboration with the Black Student Union’s celebration of Women’s History Month.
Ike’s inspiration for this project came from the diversity she encountered throughout her Texas upbringing and her time at UW-Madison. As a result of these experiences, Ike began to study how people use the word “racist”.
“The word ‘racist’ was being thrown around, and it was losing its meaning,” Ike said. “The word was such an emotional term.”
The goal of Ike’s project was to remind people to consider their words carefully and to acknowledge one another’s stories. She hopes that this project will serve as a catalyst for necessary conversations that could end discrimination.
Although her residency has concluded, the D.R.O.P.S. project lives on through Ike’s zine. To learn more about D.R.O.P.S. and view the zine, please visit union.wisc.edu/drops.
