Review in Allston Brighton Tab!!

So here is the review in the Allston Brighton Tab that I mentioned in my previous post. I do feel that she slightly misquoted me, or at least ducked off alot of the context that I said in our interview but ultimately, press is press right?

Essence/February 2009 in Junko Revival show

This Sunday was the opening for the Junko Revival show(July 12–August 9, 2009) at Rescue (325 Brighton Avenue, Allston, MA) a hip store featuring new and used modern style apparel for men and women. The event was organized by Glovebox(www.gloveboxboston.com),a non profit organization that features the work of emerging and undiscovered artist in the Boston area.It was a great experience, and I was lucky enough to even be interviewed by the Allston/Brighton Tab. I'll be on the look out to see if anything goes to press. I would say that this was also my first time exhibiting in Boston, and it was also great to show completely new work.

I showed three pieces from a new series(Essence/February 2009) that I started recently inspired by Essence magazine, one of the most popular publications for black women. I grew up reading Essence and it has often been the single place( Besides Ebony and Jet) where black women could see their "own" all throughout their pages, whether it in articles or the beauty and fashion pages. The mixed media drawings from this series Essence/ February 2009 were inspired by representations of black women in the beauty and fashion spreads. For years there has been an ongoing argument about the limited representations of dark-skinned beauties on these pages of their magazine, and the dominance of a women of lighter-skin has prescribed a skepticism about "black beauty."

As I've been working on the brown paper bags for a while I felt the combination of these two influences: 1. the representation of black beauty in black magazines and 2. the concept of the brown paper bag test to be connected. It all seems to comment on the ways in which the black community has found ways to tear each other down in the process of building others up. It has destroyed the way we think and see each other.

I think I'm most interested in deconstructing the concept of having a "black alternative" of European beauty because this way of thinking has had such a subtle affect on people that it's almost unrecognizable. Yet at the same time I think it's affect on people is so detrimental in the long run. In my impression no issue should be pushed under the rug as any issue has the potential to be completely destructive. We should love each other that much.

On the other hand, we are making obvious steps towards progress in light of our new President and First lady. Its amazing how healing it is to see Michelle Obama featured on the cover of magazines and so trailed by the media, its definitely a step in the right direction, which in my view is the right way to go.

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...

Curator/writer Bill Arning new director in Houston!

I was pleased to hear that the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston had recruited curator/writer Bill Arning as their new director over the museum. Over the years he's had the opportunity to impact the Houston arts scene, so I know his presence there will be a major contribution to the region. I'm looking forward to seeing all the great things that come from this! Mr. Arning has worked with a number of students that have come from the AIB program and to my knowledge he has is one who appreciates new and innovative ideas in culture and theory. I'm glad because I think that the Houston area could benefit from his leadership, and I expect to see exhibitions that are new and refreshing. Along with venues such as Project Row Houses and DiverseWorks, I believe that the Contemporary Arts Museum the potential to take the art world by storm. Show them what Houston has to offer!

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
5216 Montrose Blvd.
Houston, TX 77006-6598
info@camh.org
http://www.camh.org/

Project Row Houses
2521 Holman (between St. Charles and Live Oak Streets)
Phone: 713.526.7662
Fax: 713.526.1623
Email: info@projectrowhouses.org
Hours: Noon - 5:00 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday
http://projectrowhouses.org

DiverseWorks
1117 E. Freeway
Houston, Texas 77002
Phone:713.223.8346
http://www.diverseworks.org/

This is what it is...

Wow...this has been one hectic and overwhelming term, yet I'm amazed that the upcoming AIB residency will be my fourth! Where did the time go? But anyway, I thought I would share some of the pieces I've been working on over the past months. Though some I'll have to share over time because I've taken a lot of images and I'm working on different projects at the same time. I'm working on a magazine project which I'm not sure if I'm going to be bringing to the residency or not, as well as some new images on the brown paper bags. I've been actually been piecing together bags to make these huge 70 inch wide paper made of the bags and I've begun to place some tracings on top. 

After meeting with my mentor Howardena Pindell, she suggested that I look into acid free paper instead of the bags. She has been very encouraging as well about my ideas and where my work is going.  I thought a lot about the acid-free paper suggestion, and I decided that due to the amount of time and interest I invested into the bags I will most likely stick it out as I'm enjoying the ability to use found objects that have such deep meanings. Also, the whole point of this project is to deconstruct the brown paper bag itself, the fact that overtime it deconstructs itself  and won't last actually best stresses my point as well. But I am definitely interested in using grocery bag colored acid free paper in the future because I do think it's important to think about preservation.

In addition, to the bag pieces I've been working on a series of images that have a great deal to do with my thesis topic, The representation of the black in western art. I had set towards focusing it on American art, but I find that I'm most interested in the images done by Europeans! go figure. So I'm not sure if focusing on American art is something I'm directly talking about in my work, though it's related. Because the research that I've been doing on the representation of the black in American visual culture is definitely coming up, but not so much in the images that I'm referencing. For instance the Marie-Guilhelmin Beniost's painting, "Portrait d'une negresse," and Eugene Delacroix's "The Mulatto Woman." Perhaps it's because they represent the aspects of "blackness" that I feel less familar and connected with. They are two different extremes of black womanhood, Benoist's "African woman" and Delacroix's half-black woman. It is often thought that to the dominate culture these two different extremes of blackness are unseen or unknown compared to what I would say our black society refers to. They are assumed to see two completely different black people one light and one dark as the same, such as the saying "if your black your black." But I'm not quite sure about this. I mean let's be honest here. Why would Benoist paint her version of a black woman and why did Delacroix paint his, I have to think that their interpretations of these different women were different otherwise they would pick the same looking women. And when I say different extremes or types of black women I mean as in "light and dark" because I think that as black women we tend to see ourselves and other black women in light and dark, even if we don't want or mean to. So with that being said, I don't think that anyone  on this earth who has eyes and who can see would be blind to not see those differences as well. Yet, I do feel that people subconsciously make decisions about picking this type of woman over that one with out their own knowledge. THIS is why I have done these self-portraits as muses of the women that these white European artists have made certain decisions, whether conscious or unconscious, to pick a certain type(light or dark) of black woman as the subject of their images. My images attempt to create a dialogue about those choices, almost like saying, "but what if it were me?" to show the affect of the image with respect to the subject that is chosen.

Now to talk about the magazine. I've constructed a ficticous magazine that is plays into the ideas of representation of black women in print media. So far I've only designed the cover of the magazine, but I will be seeking contributors to submit articles and features for the publication of it. I will also try to recruit some writers myself, but If there is anyone that's interest please feel free. 

The residency is coming up in June, and I'll be really thinking about what exactly I'll be bringing. Most likely I'll be bringing the self-portrait images because it says more of what I think I'm going.Plus, I don't want to bring to many different things again because I will be accused on not focusing(which is very irritating) like previous residencies. The brown paper bag pieces that I'm working on now, maybe just another series that I continue to do outside of the program. Who knows? I'm leaving it all open for now. I'll be doing some additional work to the self-portrait images because I see them being more like digital paintings, right now they are just photographs but they will be much more when I'm done!

So that's all for now, but there will be much more later!

Light vs. Dark Comparisons

After coming back from the residency I began to think a lot about how I might want to go about rendering "different modes of expressions" as Sunanda would say. So  after the residency I started to experiment with an adhesive back transfer paper that I had bought some months ago. I had thought at the time that it would something really new for me to use and it would allow me to place images on my work in a different way then cutting and pasting actual images from photo paper. This way the images would have a translucence to them which was definitely what I was looking for. It would allow me to keep the character of the material that I was using, the brown paper bag, while not directly being limited with just drawings and photographs. 

A while ago as I was investigating the whole colorism subject I had begun to compile these images of prominent African Americans who were a visible reference of what I know people classify as "light-skinned" and "dark- skinned." During that time it was pre- President Obama so there were a number of images of Barack and Michelle Obama to choose from. I found however that I was more interested in Michelle Obama than Barack Obama though, not so much because I wasn't excited about a potential black president, but I was interested in the reason for so many black women's interest in Michelle Obama. Not only is she a educated, a intellectual, and a well spoken woman, but what I heard from many women is that "finally a darker-skinned woman got the break." This interested me because it changed for me how I interpreted people's perception of Barack Obama. On one hand there were many white people specifically in the media who thought she was a threatening figure, where at different times they framed her to be a hinderance to his campaign. Yet, on the other hand to black women she was the very reason they accepted Barack Obama, or took him more seriously. Perhaps it is because people had seen numerous "light-skinned" men in power who were wonderful speakers, and who had fought for the "black cause" but either married white or a woman who was"near white." What that communicates is something far more than I think people realize. 

So anyway, I was particularly interested in the way that the media was portraying her. There was one image on the cover of "Times" that caught my eye, because it portrays Michelle in a very innocent way(with her arms covering her). During this same time I had begun to collect some images of Beyonce' as well, because she for me emphasizes a woman of color who has been able to be so universal perhaps because of her skin tone. And also, she came under some controversy last year because of her ads in Loreal, which in my impression I had suspected they had been using lightened images much earlier than now but I suppose people are just now catching on. Beyonce' has also made it known that she now identifies as "creole"(50% Creole of Color from her mother and her father is African American), which I feel is an interesting change as well. 

But together they both represent two women of color who have achieved a certain level of achievement, Beyonce as an entertainer and First Lady Michelle Obama has achieved academic and professional success not to mention being the "Mom-in-chief." So here are these two women who both believe in the same upperwardly mobile ideals( Beyonce apparently grew up looking up to professional women like Michelle Obama in her mother's salon in Houston, Texas), yet the one thing that separates them in the eyes of the black community is their skin tone. Coming from a woman who was born and raised in Houston, Texas I am fully aware of how Beyonce was viewed in the community, particularly during the rise of Destiny's Child in the late 90s to early 2000s I remember people from my high school and across the city who could sense some "skin tone-marketing" at the core of their group. Beyonce, the lighter skinned member( not to mention daughter of the manager), was singing lead, while the other darker members(even if a few shades) were at the back ups. Whether this theory is true I don't know, but it seemed like there was a movement about this across America even prior to: Salt-N-Peppa, SWV, EnVogue, TLC, Xscape(Teeny),702, then much later on 3LW. All of these groups typically had a lighter-skinned member and most of the girls when I was growing up wanted to be her, whether they were dark or light. This is a puzzling phenomenon to me, but I'll get back to that later. So by comparing these two women I think it really allows one to see how color conscious the world really is, which surely doesn't make it right but somehow you wonder how and when will it change.

Moving Slow...

This semester  has moved as slow as ever. Though I've contacted many different artists I've had the greatest challenge this semester to find a studio mentor. I'm not really sure why. But I've been taking it all in stride. My focus has been really more so on trying to get my ac

ademic side of studying down, as I prepare my t

hesis outline for the end of the semester. So far that has been the best thing that's been motivating me lately. Though I've started to get work going by taking photographs and making drawings again, it was really challenging to get a flow going because I was waiting on getting a mentor. I originally thought I had found a mentor, but unfortunately they backed out at the last minute. So I'm hoping I can get that done sooner rather than later. As of now, I recently connected with African American woman artist, Howardena Pindell, who has agreed to be my studio mentory. She is an African American woman artist who has exhibited all over the world, and whose work I recently saw at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, Texas this past Decemberat the exhibition, Cinema Remixed and Reloaded, Black Women Artists and the moving image since 1970s.

She had an amazing video entitled"Free, White and 21"( to right is a video still from Free, White and 21, with Howardena Pindell in "white face")where she tells various experiences about being discriminated against because of her color, and in contrast a "white Howardena" is making comments about how she should be grateful. It was a very striking video that has given her much critical acclaim as well as her other abstract works. I'm thrilled and delighted to be able to work with her, as well as extremely grateful as she as a well known artist who I'm sure has much to do.

So just to catch you up, since the last residency at the advisement of my advisor, I've been doing quite a bit of research on the representation of Black in American visual culture, and it's been a really good process. I finally feel like there is a good direction for my work to go and I'm really excited about preparing everything for the next residency. I'm doing a range of different things but ultimately I'll bringing one body of work to the next residency. I'm also looking at the possibility of adding video as well, so I believe that by working with Howardena that will give me some good feedback to go on. I should have some new images up soon for you to view as well.

 As for recent exhibitions that I've seen, I went to the Danforth Museum to see Faith Ringgold's Story Quilts exhibition as well as Sedrick Huckaby's Love Supreme(The below right images are of Faith Ringgold's Jazz Story Quilts and one of Sed

rick Huckaby's quilt paintings). They were both equally amazing, and very inspiring. It made me think a lot about my work in terms of using material and subjects of African American  culture. Faith Ringgold's figures felt very connected to mine not specifically in style but in the evidence of place and movement in her work. Sedrick Huckaby's work really related to me because of his paintings of quilts, but also the scale of the work. I was in awe of how massive the paintings were and how much they said though the quilts in contrast to Faith Ringgold had abstract forms instead of human figures. It reminded me of some images that my mother sent of my great grandmother's quilts that she made with my gran-

dmother and uncle. I'm really  interested in how to meld the quilting theme into my work somehow, I'm slowly beginning to see how I might think of doing that. But seeing Mr. Huckaby's work definitely gave me lots to think about.

I actually saw his work while I was at the January AIB residency because he had an exhibition at Nielsen Gallery. He had some amazing paintings of African American family, one being his painting of his grandmother in "Big Mama's House"( right). It made me think of my facination with the images of my grandparents, great-grandparents, ancestors and the draw to history in my work. I feel that history tells so much about us and I'm interested in intergrating history into the ideas in my work. 

Looking at all of the representations of blacks in Western art have given me so much background to look towards. There was a particular painting by Marie Guillemin

e Benoist entitled, "Portrait of a Black Woman"(below image) that struck me most. I read alittle about this p

ainting in one of the volumes in the series "Black in Western Art" by Harvard. This image was supposed to be a pivotal image because it portrays a black women in a more beautiful way, and most accurate because it was an a

ctual model. So I'm interested in looking at the representation of blackness in this way.  There is much more that I could go on about but I will keep it at there for now. Until next time....