Family Values

Our january issue at A*DESK delves into Family Values, traversing diverse cultural contexts—from the Edo period in Japan to pre-Hispanic civilizations in South America. We ask: When the reproduction of traditional knowledge is transformed into nostalgia, nationalism, and fascism, what is the role of heritage in shaping the present? How to expose our family values, and indicate that ancestors are aligned in a temporal continuity with us? What do we need to exercise when we see that some of their values permeate our times and are for us to be taken to forge better, more attuned societies? Affinities need to be built with the realms of death and with chosen families to move forward sustainable futures.

Is family more like a tree, firmly rooted, or like a fan, unfolding in many directions? The traditional notion of family has long been framed as a stable, secure entity. Yet today, family values are increasingly shaped by forces that generate profound insecurity— economic, ecological, and social.

Through this lens, our issue seeks to forge new narratives of progress by celebrating chosen families and honoring the complexities of the past. As curator Sohrab Mohebbi aptly reminds us, “Art is where we practice freedom,” and it is this freedom that opens pathways to collective strength and renewed perspectives.

To this end, Dalia Maini contributes a compelling review of Kim TallBear’s essay Making Love and Relations Beyond Settler Sex and Family in: Donna Haraway’s Making Kin Not Population compendium, while Amelie Jakubek provides thoughtful commentary on Anti-Methodologies: What if your needs can never be met?

This editorial bridges the past and present, offering fresh perspectives on heritage and family, including key contributions from the Langen Foundation collection of Japanese graphics explored in an interview with Karla Zerressen, her mother, and her sister. Conducted by María Inés Plaza Lazo, the conversation explores what it means to collect art today as a family—an act of preservation and reinvention.

In a year marked by wars and destabilization, we open 2025 by rethinking the family nucleus as more than just a biological or historical unit. We explore it through artists like Ayumi Paul  who offer alternative visions of interconnectedness that challenge conventional frameworks. Meanwhile, Astra Taylor’s The Age of Insecurity argues that capitalism functions as an ‘insecurity-producing machine,’ a concept that applies here, as the traditional family model is manipulated by power structures to uphold inequality, creating both division and a false sense of safety.