our mission 关于我们
The Chinese Artists and Organizers Collective (CAO) creates art as a form of organizing and (re)building a sustainable community. Our practice is rooted in China, the Sinophone diaspora, and every life experience in between. We make art to organize and support social justice movements, collective healing and empowerment, and systemic change. We make space for political conversations and community-oriented art in solidarity with other marginalized communities.
离离草（CAO）是一个扎根于社群的艺术小组。我们生长于中国及华语离散社群等身份夹缝中，通过艺术创作来支持和组织社会运动、集体疗愈和赋能、以及推动结构性改变。我们与其它被边缘化的社群合作，为政治对话和基于社群的艺术创造可持续成长的空间。
our name 我们的名字
Our Chinese name, 离离草 Li Li Cao, comes from a line of poem by the poet 白居易 Bai Juyi from the Tang dynasty. The poem is called 赋得古原草送别 A Poem for Sending Off a Friend on the Wild Field:
离离原上草，一岁一枯荣。
野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。
Grass thriving in the field, they die and flourish every year. The wildfire cannot burn it all; when wind blows in the spring, they will come back alive. (Translation by CAO)
The word 离 Li also means “to leave” or “to be apart.” It is part of the word 离散 Li San, diaspora. Our members are geographically scattered so we are often apart. We arrive to converge and then leave again. We and other Chinese and Sinophone communities look out for each other. We are diasporic but not separate.
Our acronym in English, CAO, is a play on the pronunciation of 草 Cao, or grass, in Chinese. It is also a homonym of a popular and censored curse word and used as a creative way to express often-dismissed and erased complaints as well as an oppressed rage.
我们的名字离离草来自唐代诗人白居易的诗《赋得古原草送别》：
离离原上草，一岁一枯荣。
野火烧不尽，春风吹又生。
”离“字也意味着“离散”。我们的成员常驻地不一，常有相聚和别离。我们与彼此，以及和世界各地的中国和华语社群相互守望，离散却不分离。我们的英文缩略名CAO是Chinese Artists and Organizers “中国创作者和组织者”的缩略，也取其和“草”同音之意。在中文互联网上，“草”被作为骂人话和语气词来使用，作为一种在我们的声音经常被边缘化、被抹除的时候，躲避审查来发表抱怨、批判，表达愤怒的方式。
let’s engage让我们链接
Whether you are an artist, an organizer, or someone who cares about art and social justice, we would love to work with you on projects, workshops, and events. We welcome voices from communities of color, LGBTQ communities, disabled communities and other activist communities. We welcome genuine questions and thoughts to start urgent conversations.
Contact us at caocollective@gmail.com
无论你是艺术工作者，组织者，还是关心艺术和社会运动的人，我们都非常想和你一起创作艺术、办工作坊、做活动。我们欢迎有色社群，LGBTQ社群，残障社群及其它行动者社群的声音。欢迎你发给我们真诚的问题、想法，开始紧要的对话。
我们期待遇到你caocollective@gmail.com
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