Residency Tomorrow!!Aaaah!!

The AIB residency is tomorrow and I'm both happy and nervous about it. These are the images I'll be bringing, however, I might also be bringing some other projects I've worked on as well.  All of these images reflect all the research that I've been doing on the representation of the black image in Western art. I'm actually finally somewhat pleased with the result, and feel like I have work that is coinciding with what I'll be writing for my thesis. I know there is alot of work to do to prepare but I'm excited. As usual it will be great to see all of my classmates and faculty. It feels somewhat bittersweet that this is actually the last official residency for grad school, where I will be critiqued. The final residency being the one where I defend my thesis and prepare work for the graduate exhibition.

I think what I'd really like to gain from this residency is feedback that will be helpful as I prepare to hone things for my thesis. I could certainly bring additional work, however, I'm not sure if that would get acros

s my message. My advisor really made it clear in the last residency that I should focus on bringing works that were more edited, so here it is. All of these images are 24x16 primarily except for one horizontal image(16x24).I certainly plan to expound even more from these works and to create more, however, it was very difficult to do this semester as I felt that it started much later then usual. I also had the task of really digging deeper into my research to see w

hat I really needed to be saying and how I really needed to be saying it. I found as I began to at the history of the black image in Western art that I started to see aspects that I was very interested in exploring. And I began to depart from many of the things that I did in past semesters such as the use of text. I don't believe that  it's because that I didn't have anything to say, but I began to question myself and why I wanted to use text so much. I believe it's something that is apart of me, and I love writing. So it's almost a natural chain or reaction. I think what really helped me was that I had so many opportunities to write this year, whether it be articles or the papers that I worked on this semester. Not that the papers have changed from past semesters, but I guess I sort of felt settled into my topic so much more. When I first started the MFA program I felt so sensitive about writing about African American art or art of 

the African diaspora. Yet over time I started to experience a momentum that really helped me through this semester. I have to say honestly that it was my writing that helped me to make sense of what I really wanted to do. I also had some great encouragement and advice from my mentor Howardena Pindell, who was very helpful to me. I had been working on the brown paper bags, which I will continue to do, however, I felt like the message was getting across so much better with these digital paintings I began to make. In my mind I believe that I had already knew this was where I was going, however, I think sometimes we choose to go along for the ride, take a couple of detours, just for the fun of it. I think all of it has taught be a lot and has 

given me a new sense of understanding for what I want to be doing. I'm more amazed particularly by the Hottentot Venus image that I created, because I never really thought I'd be addressing her topic in my art. I mean there have been many other artists who have such as Rene

e Cox and Carla Williams, who have used her references in their photography. I'm sure my good friend and curator Barbara Thompson would be tickled to see how her work at the Hood Museum and Davis Museum has influenced what I'm doing now. I don't think I'll ever forget the excitement that my mentor Ms. Pindell expressed when she saw my photo sketches of the project. And it really hit me how important history is to art, and how it allows us to reflect on so much more then maybe the main topic. Besides a rough start I feel that I'm fairly pleased with the outcome this semester. I think there are definitely great things to come...