Remnants of Resistance: Love and (R)evolution

April 04, 2025

As part of the One Institute's Circa Queer Histories Festival, CSUN's University Library and Queer Studies Program have partnered to produce a second season of the Remnants of Resistance podcast. Episodes feature interviews with CSUN faculty, and will delve into unique and hidden queer stories uncovered by their research.

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About the Episode

In October 2024 artist and activist Lydia Emily joined us for a live episode taping as part of the Remnants of Resistance podcast series. Considered by many to be one of the preeminent female street artists of our time, her large-scale murals have appeared all over the world. Her art is deeply political, and our conversation explored the relationship between art and politics alongside intersectional identities and resistance, the focus of much of her work. Her mural on Skid Row honoring a survivor of sex trafficking is the longest-standing untouched and untagged mural in Los Angeles, a sign of deep respect in the street art community. Lydia Emily is a spokesperson for the MS Society and is the subject of the documentary The Art of Rebellion. Her memoir, The Art of Hope, was published in 2024.

About the Interviewee

Artist and Multiple Sclerosis advocate Lydiaemily Archibald was born in Chicago in 1971. She had a globe-trotting childhood, infused with her family’s values of activism. This foundation informed her worldview, and her art trumpets her call to the world for social justice and equality. A prolific and dynamic international artist, Lydia Emily’s work has been featured at gallery shows in Milan, Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Washington DC, and San Francisco. She battled cancer in 2010, only to be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2012. She became a spokesperson for the MS Society sharing the story of her diagnosis, and her message of hope for others suffering from the disease.