Field Guide To Crisis

Field Guide to a Crisis is a socially engaged art project that functions as a teacher’s training tool by mentoring people in recovery from a substance abuse disorder to become “educators in resiliency.” Participants get the opportunity to identify, present and teach their own crisis resilience skills through lesson plans, instructional videos and public presentations. This project challenges us to rethink the voices that are elevated in times of crisis. Society traditionally turns away from people dealing with a substance abuse disorder, out of projected stigma. This work flips that narrative by activating the unique skills that individuals have developed in their recovery process. The program aims to build confidence, self-esteem and resilience in its participants by uplifting lived experience to the status of expert knowledge.

We’re excited to welcome Justin Maxon as an artist in residence in Summer 2023 to facilitate this project with our community. He’ll be working at Talbert House and our Welcome storefront to engage with local residents to participate. The project will culminate with a community dinner on June 22nd as part of our Welcoming Handbook project.

Justin Maxon is a socially engaged artist, photographer, filmmaker, and educator. He is a faculty member in the Art Department at Cal Poly Humboldt. His socially engaged work often challenges authoritative knowledge systems through repositioning people within the social hierarchy. He collaborates with communities that are connected to his own positionality, making design and ideation decisions with participants. His work has been funded by organizations such as: the California Arts Council, the Magnum Foundation, the Aaron Siskind Foundation and the National Geographic Society. His work has been exhibited widely: the Museum of Chinese in America; the Museum de Arte Acarigua Araure in Venezuela, the Bermuda National Gallery, the Lodz Fotofestiwal in Poland, and the Singapore International Photography Festival. As a photographer he has worked on feature and cover stories for publications such as TIME, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, Newsweek, Mother Jones Magazine, Fader Magazine, The New York Times, and NPR. 

More information about the project can be found here:
https://fieldguidetoacrisis.com/

Instructional Videos:
https://vimeo.com/808100625

Walking Performance:
https://vimeo.com/808100985