We are big fans of vent diagrams: move from the overlaps – a phenomenal participatory art project, which was started by educator E.M./Elana Eisen-Markowitz and artist Rachel Schragis.

In their words: “We define a “vent diagram” as a diagram of the overlap of two statements that appear to be true and appear to be contradictory. We purposefully don’t label the overlapping middle.  

Making vent diagrams as a practice helps us recognize and reckon with contradictions and keep imagining and acting from the intersections and overlaps. Venting is an emotional release, an outlet for our anger, frustration, despair — and as a vent enables stale, suffocating air to flow out, it allows new fresh air to cycle in and through.

We’re trying to make “vents” in both senses of the word: tiny windows for building unity and power, emotional releases of stale binary thinking in order to open up a trickle of fresh ideas and air.”

We encourage you to check out the archives on their site, full of a wide range of vents from different creators. Inspired by the power of this format, we have made nine vent diagrams! These are based on years of conversations, observations and reflections in different contexts with white anti-racist folks.

It feels useful to name some common contradictions of explicit and/or implicit messages that white people engaged in this work over time may have heard, experienced and internalized. These binaries can often be immobilizing. They can make white people show up in mechanical and inauthentic ways.  

In the spirit of vents, we hope that sharing these can spark reflection and generate insight, feelings and conversations about what it can mean to “move from the overlaps”. 

Which of these resonate? What variations or nuances would you want to add? What arises as we contemplate and inhabit the overlapping middle – perspectives, practices, ways of being? 

These are offered in service of movement through stagnation and stuckness, hopefully opening some windows for “fresh ideas and air” to come through.