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Sophie Cullen

Sophie Cullen

Isa Cruz

Sophie Cullen

Sophie Cullen

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Aly Spaltro, also known by her artist name Lady Lamb, performed at a rally for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) encampment this past week. Spaltro is originally from Brunswick and said the opportunity to connect with this protest through her art was exhilarating.

“I was in New York since the genocide began.… I was a part of the protest movement there on the ground, which was really amazing and eye-opening for me,” Spaltro said. “But it was a whole other thing to be asked to play a song at Bowdoin. I just felt really honored.”

Spaltro mentioned how humbled she was to perform for the group.

“To be honest, [I was] a little nervous in that I was just so in awe of these students that I felt shy,” Spaltro said. “I felt like, ‘I don’t even know how to be here in front of you, because you are leading us, and you’re leading me, and I’m just intimidated by your shining light.’”

Spaltro admitted that she had some nerves beforehand, causing her to accidentally play one of her songs, “Aubergine,” in the wrong key. At first, Spaltro chose the song for its upbeat rhythm. She admitted to the crowd that the song didn’t directly relate to the protest, but later realized she saw a connection between them.

“After I sang the song, I realized it was a good choice, because the song is about someone being very withholding,” Spaltro said. “And I realized that’s exactly what Bowdoin is being right now.”

Spaltro first found out about the encampment through the Bowdoin SJP Instagram.

“I happened to be on my phone at the exact right time,” Spaltro said. “I watched the encampment get launched live, which was really exciting.”

The next day, Spaltro got a text from an organizer who was looking to coordinate music alongside the protest. Spaltro agreed, no questions asked. Spaltro had previously performed at Bowdoin for Ivies in 2023.

“[At] maybe ten in the morning, they said to come over,” Spaltro said. “I didn’t know what they had for a sound system or anything, so I just grabbed a bunch of stuff and headed.”

Before she goes on tour in April, Spaltro will perform this Saturday at the Waldo Theater in Waldoboro. She plans to start writing her next record soon.

“My world has shifted so much in the last two years, politically,” Spaltro said. “It’s definitely going to be a protest record. And I will find a poetic way to say all the things that have been on my mind the last two years.”

Prior to her performance during the encampment, Spaltro noted that she had never been involved in protest art before. She began to see everything through a political lens in 2023.

“I could never imagine not playing a show now and speaking truth to power,” Spaltro said. “I never used to feel that way. I never used to feel like politics had a place in my show. And now I understand that everything is political, and it’s crucial that if I’m going to be privileged enough to have this microphone, then I’m going to speak on injustice.”

Spaltro emphasized how important art has been to political action throughout history and how today’s artists need to keep that momentum going.

“Artists have always been at the helm of every single social justice issue and revolution, and I think that I’m beginning to understand that artists have an obligation to look at the work around them and speak on what we’re seeing with our own eyes,” she said. “Every single person has a role in the revolution.”