New stuff

My life is quite busy right now. I have many things on my plate but they are all very good things.

I'm excited about a number of different

 opportunities that have opened up that have the  potential to make a positive impact on my career. But aside from that I'm still making work as usual, but you'll notice in this post a number of 

different types of work. It's not because I'm going crazy it's just that I'm taking in so much information that there is no "one" way for me to process it all. I felt very confident by a suggestion Stuart Steck made to me about just "trying" things out. Especially because I'm talking about issues within and upon the African American community, all of the research can be very overwhelming. Who would have thought

 that something that your really interested in would overwhelm you so much? I didn't. But oh well...I figure that the more that I absorb all of this reading and researching the more that I'll get through this seemingly "lack" of information problem. It's not that I don't appreciate research, it's just that I don't think people realize how emotionally draining it can be. Particularly in my case, because I'm researching various issues of "blackness" that's really painful to dig into. Yet, at the same time I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's a very complex relationship. Nevertheless, here are my processed thoughts that may or may not make sense to you but still please give feedback.

"BlackWomanhood" exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I drove out to Hanover, NH, about 2.5 hours from Boston, to see the Black Womanhood exhibition that was being shown at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Not only was it a beautiful drive from the city, but it was well worth the trip. Being the first time that we'd traveled out to New Hampshire together, it was a memorable experience. So what had me driving to Hanover, NH on a Wednesday afternoon? Yes, you guessed it(probably not),not only would I have the opportunity to take a look at this highly anticipated show, but they were also having a Black Womanhood Film Festival. This event would be featuring  three films highlighting the issues like colorism and identity within black women, each coming from different perspectives, particularly geographical prospectives differing between black women from Africa, America, and other extensions of the African diaspora. The film that I came to see was Black Women On: The Light Dark Thang by Celeste Crenshaw and Paula Caffey. Never have I seen a documentary that I felt like crying so hard over, like the other two films("Fantacoca" from Africa, Africas by Agnes Ndibi and Perfect Image by Maureen Blackwood) this film expressed the identity struggles of skin tone amongst the African diaspora. There were various different points of views, shades, and representations of Black women sharing their experiences. I felt in so many ways that I shared some of the same experiences they did. I wondered constantly while watching these women, why black women don't talk about these issues more often. It became clear as the film was coming to a close, as the stories were intensifying, the reason why it's not a popular subject amongst most sisters, the pain. With tears one of the women confessed her frustration with the representation of dark-skinned women in black films, the emphasis on this type of woman being considered ugly and the love interest being a lighter-skinned woman. It pained me to see how she identified with this representation, yet it frustrated her so deeply at the same time.

These are similar expressions that the artists upstairs in the main exhibit shared, as they were juxtaposed next to each other as if they were performing an open forum on the intense struggle of being a black woman not just in America, but everywhere. I felt the intensity of each piece as the artist shared their views, their objections, and their conclusions. Some artists were familiar to me, such as artists like Kara Walker,Carrie Mae Weems, Alison Saar, Carla Williams,Renee Cox, Joyce Scott, and Magdalena Campos-Pons. However, there were a great majority of artists who weren't, mostly because some were not African American artists, such as Maud Sulter(whom I was intensely impressed with), Penny Siopis, Malick Sidibe, Berni Searle, Etiye Dimma Poulsen, Ingrid Mwangi/Robert Hutter, Hassan Musa, Wangechi Mutu, Zanele Muholi,Lalla Essaydi, and many others. I felt so engulfed in this mass space of representations that included traditional African art mixed with the new interpretations of contemporary artists. Overall I found the exhibition very helpful for me, and it gave me such a peace to see all of these wonderful black women recognized in one space for their artistic talents. I felt grateful that I was able to see the show up-close-and-personal instead of just looking through an exhibition catalogue(which you know I had to get, thanks to my wonderful husband for adding another wonderful book to my collection!). 

Although each of these women and men brought wonderful work to my attention that was so needed for my growth as an artist, I felt most compelled by the works of artists Maud Sulter(Scottish) and Berni Searle. To me their aesthetic decisions were very suggesting to my own style, and things I'd like to accomplish in my work. Particularly with Berni Searle (South African)and her piece Traces(1999, above image), and her use of red, yellow, and brown spices to represent the color texture of skin tones reminded me of images that I did after my first residency that was for me a digital sketch of the divisions of colorism(image below). It reminded me of a flag in some ways, but my intent was to use photo transfers to then make diffentiations between what is considered red, yellow, and brown toned.

When I look at Searle's Traces I see the same divison that I created, and I felt that was so interesting to me that we both orchestrated these color expressions in the same order,( l to r) red, yellow, and black. I wondered what that could have possibly meant(if anything at all), and more importantly I'm interested with how we seemed to see this order so similarly. This makes me think of apartheid, and the divisions that existed there when in it's prominent era. I felt that we were both in a way communicating this systematic structure that seems to remain present even as we try effortlessly to push it away. I also found it interesting that Searle also has a series of works that include images with text, or use text on it's own, which I felt was even more  related to my work as well.

With Maud Sulter's Terpsichore(1989, below) I was interested in the staging within her photographs, which was part of a series where she had black women artists posing as muses. I'm intrigued by the idea of digital performance and the presence of movement within my images. I see a relation as the performance artist Della Street in the image is posed as a aristocratic woman, which represents for me a sense of movement physicologically as you feel that you've caught her in the midst of playful suggestions. You know that this is not her normal attire or hair, therefore suggesting the movement that took place to create this mask of identity. 

So in a nutshell there was a lot that I gained from the show, in addition to the fact that I met exhibition curator Barbara Thompson, whom I had the opportunity to speak with prior to the last film in the festival. She was extremely knowledgeable about the subject of black women, and it was impressive to see someone with so much passion about the works of these artists. It was inspiring, and I'm glad that I had the chance to converse with her, because she added much insight on how to approach such a broad subject like "Black womanhood." She expressed her concern with the tendency that is placed on the generalized notion of being a "black woman" in society, when there are a number of different expressions that exist. In the case of this exhibit, it proved to show a significant element of geographical difference.

After so much to absorb out of that experience, I walked away not with a totally full impression on what black womanhood was about, but definitely a more well-rounded one. The breakdown of our various different experiences and roles in society, how they affect us, and the representation of ourselves in imagery was what stuck out to me the most. I could really literally go on and on, but I feel empowered by what these women artists have presented. Not just because they are black, but because for the first time in a long time I've been able to engage in art that speaks to my own personal story, experiences, and points of view. So I say great job to these ladies! Maybe one day I'll be joining you to share my perspective.

AIB Residency Summary

This AIB residency, presented a vast variety of questions concerning my current work. A mass majority would have agreed that the work that I brought to this second residency was completely different from the work I brought to my first residency. This could have been purposely, but justly there were issues that I wanted to confront in my work that I had not received the opportunity to address before this point. It was clear from the last residency that I was perceived as a young artist with much potential, yet lacking focus. Whether I agree with this viewpoint, is another essay but evidently the combination of research and critical theory had an affect on my work.

One of the first comments that I received as I was installing my work within my assigned space was the transformation from my predominately-Christian based work to work addressing issues of identity politics and race. Some thought this was a great move considering the current awkwardness to many discourses on Christianity or religion. It opened my work up to a broader scope, where to my surprise people were readily embracing it. The biggest question was "why colorism?" of all the issues within African-American culture why did I choose to highlight "black upon black" discrimination?

My first critique with Oscar Palacio questioned the "literalness" of my work. To him every thing seemed very much educational and informative, lacking the needed layering and depth to really create a more challenging read. He liked the idea that I was going back into culture to reference class, and suggested that I take a look at the racism studies on bone structure that took place at the International Center of Photography in New York. He saw my work as tapping into a use and need of research that could easily lead me into visual research and art making research based projects. He saw this as an important thread that should be made more evident within my work, and felt that the lack of evidence or presence of research represented in my work caused it to become "didactic." Some of the artists that he suggested where artists like David Levanthol, Laurie Simms, and Ellen Gallagher. He suggested that I read "The Invisible Man"(Ralph Ellison), research "black face minstrels," and watch the film "A Birth of a Nation." Oscar felt that I should continue to collect words that explore notions of class, race, and the consequences of how a larger culture, affects the smaller culture.

This was somewhat contrasting to what my former advisor, Adam McEwen felt. He felt the foundation of my works was very strong and stimulating, however, he felt that there were aesthetic values that I needed to perfect. Particularly he was interested in the huge magazine spread, that he felt was more resembling to a poster. His ernest suggestion was that I tweak the design, research, make the piece look more like an actual People magazine spread. Although my effort was not to make it identical to an actual spread, he felt this accuracy was needed for the piece to be read correctly. Then, it would allow me to tap into what that magazine represents and how it contrasts or relates to the stories I supplied. He also felt that my colors should have been more about skin tones since I was talking about colorism. His overall complaint was that although he felt much of the work was strong, he'd like to see more. He felt that I should push out as many tries as possible and do editing later.

I was encouraged to hear that Jane Avigkos was pleased with the developments in my work, and that I was seeming to take a step in the right direction. My critique with Sunanda Sunyal was very productive and as I expected he had much to say about my current work, which wasn't surprising due to his extensive expertise in African and African American art. Although, it seemed that he was more concerned with the fact that I didn't continue to sit-in on his African American artists history class at AIB this past semester. He didn't attempt to read the work, he spent most of the time demanding that I do more research. He faced me the entire time and only before I mentioned it's neglect did he really attempt to read the work at all. His argument was that the only way I would be able to tackle such topics was with extensive research, which is a point that I well respect. He also felt that it was odd for me to deal with issues of colorism, because in his opinion this was an internal issue. His suggestion was that he would have felt more comfortable if I was dealing with issues of "blackness." He did mention a number of documentaries that were a "must-see" for me, such as "Ethnic Notions," Race the power of an illusion," Family Name," and" A birth of a Nation." Books that he recommended were "The Invisible Man"(Ralph Ellison), "Black Skin/White Mask," "Wretched of the Earth," and novels dealing with racial issues. He hinted that the idea of "lighter is better" comes from a survival instinct, and wasn't an issue that was only prone to African Americans. He spoke of it's existence in other cultures such as India and other Asian cultures. He felt slightly fearful of my discussion of an internalized topic because of the critical attacks that have been directed towards Kara Walker by other blacks in the arts community, in response to the way she represents African American women. He felt this was something I should be aware of, and consider its implications within the African American community.

After speaking with Sunanda later, I had an interesting conversation about my possible interest in connecting the quilt-making that my great grandmother did into my work somehow. He felt that this could be a good thesis project to discover, and felt that I should gather as much information about her as possible. This gathering of information wouldn't require a biographical representation of my great-grandmothers life. He felt it would be more interesting to create a fictional story that used her life as a way of commenting on the historical aspects of the time. He agreed to work with me again this semester to help me to balance my work with the lack of African American art history that is covered in typical art history and critical theory courses.

One of the most helpful critiques was one by John Kramer, whose expertise in design helped me to consider aesthetically how presentation affects the way a work is read. He opted to change my bone piece that originally read: "What is a yellowbone?" to just simply "yellowbone." He also felt that it's proper place shouldn't be lying onto of a tarp on the ground. Even though my analogy of digging up bones had some weight, he felt that the piece should take precedence leaning against the wall. There the piece transformed from looking incomplete to being sculptural. From that point on the piece was read completely different and more affectively without forming a literal question. It also took some of the heavy literal sense from the piece and allowed it to be a questionable thought. He also gave suggestions about the placement of my works, and assisted me to shift things around which made a major difference. One of his most critical takes was upon the magazine spread, as he agreed with Adam that it should have a more professional and crisp aesthetic comparable to an actual magazine. The presence of the title " People Magazine" wasn't enough, and needed the signature look that could be easily recognized as being a spread in People Magazine. His suggestion was that I also do multiple versions of each piece to have more variety.

Then, after meeting with Oscar Palacio again, who was my selected advisor for this semester, we were able to discuss my work in greater depth. He felt that my work needed to show evidence that I had looked closely at other African American women artists like Carrie Mae Weems,Deborah Willis, Renee Cox, and Lorna Simpson. It needed to show exploration with how they approached their work, and critical writings about their work. Just like Adam he felt that researching other African American artists would give me clarity about how I could be more successful. He also felt I should look at the work of Jenny Holtzer, Nancy Sparrow, and Barbara Kruger because of their use of text in their work.

To conclude, evidently there are many avenues that I can direct my work. Over of the course of this semester I've had the opportunity to choose amongst many ideas that are very interesting to me. This may entitle me to compile information on my great-grandmother history to begin a possible journey towards my thesis. Using her life as a doorway into the discourse of the realities and struggles of African American life during her generation. There are also plenty of other opportunities for me to expand the use of text in my work, and determine what may be affective ways of representing text within imagery. Looking at the works of other African American male and female artists I might find myself evaluating their method of communication as a point of reference in my work, such as how Renee Cox used the historic images of black female bodies and stereotypes within the representation of African American women in her work. Another option would involve me picking up where I left off, perfecting the work that I've already done, and creating a larger variety of viewpoints that I can stem from. Research seems to be the ever defining thread between all of these suggestions, and after completing this residency I've learned again, the wealth of information that lies before me. Information that has limitless possibilities and great potential. The task that I face now is staying motivated, and not being overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information that I seem to continuously uncover. As Stuart Steck suggested in our critique, I have to find a way to "spill out my thoughts" from all the endless information that is dumped in my path, and use it as a dumping ground for conceptual thought.