230 Nooses for Black History Month

I hope everyone has a fantastic Black History Month!!! I wanted to share some artwork with you from my last exhibition titled "Make it Plain."

This video shows a piece names 1982 and talks about why I chose to create 230 nooses. The song playing in the background, Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday, was also written out in one of my books. As you will see he goal of my noose artwork was to help people understand a bit more about African American history and the racism that existed and to some extent still does exist. You can see images of the finished piece at the end of the video.


To see more of my art check out my YouTube channel.

Social Justice Today (and This Week)

Trayvon and his father

In the past two weeks I have had two sets of parents come talk to me about race and how it impacts their young children. One is the mother to an adopted son from Africa who had to watch her little preschooler come home and try to scrub his blackness off because he was told he was dirty and wasn’t allowed to play with the other kids at school. Anther, the father of a young girl, who had to deal with his daughter coming home crying and saying “I want blue eyes.” In addition was also a major event (The murder of Trayvon, a 17 year old boy) that made many people rethink the race situation in America.

The mom with the preschooler is now dreading telling her son that just because he looks a certain way, he will need to be careful in certain neighborhoods, he will not be able to wear certain colors or certain clothes. Even if he is on the honor roll and gets into a good school, people will assume it was affirmative action because he couldn’t possibly do it on his own.

Noose

The father with the girl gets to explain to his daughter that she is beautiful even though everyone she studies in school, everyone she is surrounded by, models she sees, and the majority of people in power do not have the same skin tone, eye color, or hair texture as she does. She will need to learn to love her own beauty in a world that does not call her beautiful but rather exotic or ethnic.

I am reminded of a story I was told about two police officers sitting in a bar across from one of my friends talking about profiling Native Americans just for fun.

I am reminded of the time(s) I have been profiled, followed through stores, or stereotyped simply because of the color of my skin. I am reminded of family members murdered because of their race (and their successes in a white neighborhood) and I am reminded of violence toward myself and my friends because of my dark skin.  I have been told what it is like to be black in America by many white folks and I am here to tell you what it is really like.

People ask why I chose to use nooses in my artwork.  This is why.  People need to see that, though better, things are still a mess. We are not beyond racism. Racism is learned and we have not adequately taught our preschoolers to accept others. We, ourselves, have not learned to fully accept others. We have not acknowledged these problems, nor have we decided to actively fight against them. 

The nooses not only force us to think about racism in its present day form, but allow us to remember those who have been murdered because of their race or other forms of prejudice and hate such as sexuality, or gender, even modern day slavery.  We are still fighting this battle...

Some helpful links

Black is Beautiful Pin Board - This is an excellent way to help focus on images of people that look like you.  Also turn off the television

Tips to help your child see themselves as beautiful even when people at school do not

My Black is Beautiful - Celebrating African American women

More of my Artwork

Body Image
Native American
Human Trafficking

The Good Mule: Artist Statement

This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to attend The Good Mule 2012 Conference as the Featured Visual Artist. I participated last year so was pretty excited about being invited to be the artist. See more of my thoughts from The Good Mule.

I am currently finishing up my last semester at the University of Wyoming and will be graduating in May. I will be graduating with a in Fine Arts and a second major in Humanities and Fine Arts (HUFA) as well as a minor in Graphic Design. My areas of emphasis for the HUFA degree are Philosophy, Religious Studies, African American and Diaspora Studies, and Art History. My dream job is to have an art studio where I can continue to create art and work with people through teaching, art therapy, and graphic design lessons.

The pieces that are on display come from a couple different bodies of work and addresses a variety of topics. These topics include LGBTQ issues, Christianity and the LGBTQ community, African American religious culture and history, Native American reservations, and poverty.

Make it Plain is my most recent body of work and focuses on African American Religious history and culture with the goal of helping people understand religious figures such as Malcolm X and James Cone. Make it Plain will be up in the 234 Gallery during the Shepard Symposium. If you would like to see the entire show, this would be an excellent opportunity.

My next body of work will be dealing with sex trafficking and modern day slavery. Be sure to check out my blog and Facebook page to track the progress of my upcoming work and learn more about individual pieces and the research that went into their creation. The URLs are on my business card.

I am certainly up for discussion about concepts, inspirations, the bodies of work these individual pieces come from, collaborations, sales, or art and activism in general.

To learn more about the Good Mule check out their website.

American Dream: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Truth

American Dream

Though America is great, it is important to remember the true history of our country.  It was built on the backs of African slaves and is currently being built on the backs of underpaid, overworked Latinos and other under-privileged people groups (sometimes slaves). Avoiding reality will not make it go away (as we just saw in "History can't be Undone, But it can be Erased").  The idea of the American Dream is based upon ideas that many will never be able to achieve.

Inspiration for American Dream

This work began as a part of 1892 (post coming soon), a work depicting the large number of lynchings in 1892.  America began with the slave trade.  Laws were passed allowing the murder of blacks and lynchings were a weekly occurrence after church on Sundays.  American Dream depicts how American history and some aspects of culture are so ingrained in the culture and our understanding of what it means to be American (even if some refuse to admit and confront this history).  This work is meant to be a criticism (constructive criticism) of America today as well as a reminder of our history.

The American Flag

I understand that the American flag can be overused; however, it can also be a powerful symbol for cultural values. The flag is the perfect symbol to show our country's history.  I would like to continue to use the flag as a symbol in my next body of work which will be focusing on sex trafficking.  The flag has also been used in mys past bodies of work.  See my Native American history poster "Incarceration." 

Exhibition Feedback

I was talking to a man at the opening; he was reading a slave narrative and this piece really resonated with him.  The book he was reading talked about how breeding with female slaves was just an everyday topic and part of American culture.  One of my favorite aspects of having this exhibition is how many conversations were started in response to the serious topic.  Art is a powerful too for social dialog an change.

On a side, but related not, attacks on the LGBTQ community are becoming increasingly common by the same groups (such as the KKK, neo-Nazis, radical Nationalists, and racialists).


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Noose

Photo featured in the Laramie Boomerang November 10, 2011

This Noose painting was an experiment 

created during the 1892 process. 

Noose was painted on top of wall art 

again showing the contrast between fake (though beautiful)

and honest.  Speaking to the covering up of the past.
This idea of covering up the past is not as clear as in History Can't be Undone...
I chose to include this work in 

Make it Plain beacuse it had a strong use of lights and darks.  

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1892: 230 Lynchings in America

There were 230 people lynched in 1892 and this piece is dedicated to each of those individuals.

Lynchings in One Year

1892 (originally titled 230 nooses) is the piece that started the idea of using nooses. Through research I found that there were 230 people lynched in 1892.

Viewing X and Cone in Historical Context

I had been trying to figure out how to help people understand Malcolm X and James Cone, two historical figures often misunderstood. Using nooses to show the extent of the overwhelming hatred, racism, ignorance, and bigotry to which they were responding seemed like a perfect solution to help people see the necessity for their intensity. I wasn’t sure where I was going with this idea of creating nooses or how I was going to display the 230 drawings. All I knew was that I had to make over 20 every week to make enough in time for opening night.

Experimenting

In addition to the 230 nooses, this piece actually morphed into several other works including Negro Family Tree, History Can’t be Undone, but It Can be Erased, American Dream, and Noose. The variety of works developed through the process of making 230 drawings.  I experimented and the experiments ended up being separate works.  The text hidden in this piece is composed of quotes from KKK leaders and essays I read while researching for Make it Plain.  These quotes and more text will reappear in a post about one of my books exhibited in this art show.


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History Can't Be Undone...

Detail of center image

...but It Can Be Erased

This piece is a series of three prints made from a pink eraser.  As they go from left to right they fade.  This speaks to the forgetting of and changes to history over a period of time.   The center image is torn out and placed on the top of another print underneath.  The covered print relates to covering up the past and the idea that those who have the power teach us the history they want us to remember, while those who choose to look a little deeper will see the truth.

The title is from a lyric from the band Spoken and is an incredibly powerful idea.


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Negro Family Tree

Interesting Welcome

Negro Family Tree can be seen from down the hall before you enter the gallery space.  People recognize the framed pieces and how it looks like a shrine, altar or simply photos that your grandparents would have of their family.  As you get closer, you realize that these images are not portraits but nooses.

The piece originated as I was playing around with 1892 (I will post more on that later) and ways to display the 230 drawings; I decided to frame some. I enjoyed the irony of framing something like a noose.  The feeling of having something morbid, yet beautifully drawn in ink sit on my desk, in the studio, while I was working as intriguing.  I wanted to share that feeling with others, so I decided to take the 15 framed nooses and make them a separate piece based on the idea of not knowing details of ones family history but rather knowing the way family members died, an idea of which Malcolm X spoke.

Exhibition Feedback

From those I talked to about this piece, my goals of depicting a beautiful shrine in honor of someone from outside the gallery space did work.  The piece was met with sad shock upon the realization that this shrine was composed of noose portraits.  


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Art Supplies I cant Live Without

People sometimes ask what tools I use to create my drawings or how I made a piece.  I will certainly post a tutorial or two in the future, but for now I will tell you the supplies and programs that I worked with in my most recent body of work.  These are some of the basics tools that I use to create my art.  The first few are for my ink and wash drawings. The next section addresses the supplies I use for my graphic design posters.  The last two are used to tie my various mediums together to create a body of work. 

Ink print from Make it Plain

Drawing ink pen
Watercolor paper
Mechanical pencils (lots of them)
Kneaded eraser
Misket (masking fluid)
Water brush (for traveling)
Watercolor brush

My MacBook Pro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photo Shop
My Kodak camera (simple snap and shoot, but I love it)

Concept - Although the image to the left is a print it ties to the rest of Make it Plain because it addresses the American history in a similar way to other work from the exhibition.
Sketchbook

What do you use to create?

230 Nooses - Working

As many of you know, I am getting work ready for my November show.  I just decided how I want to discuss African American religious culture and how I want to address history.  I plan to have the first wall depicting the prevalent mentality of racism, hatred, racialism (white supremacy) and ignorance that led up to events of the 60s. The way that I plan to visually convey the cultural and political climate is by creating one noose for every person lynched in 1892. The 230 lynched in one year will symbolize the mentality and culture that existed well into the mid 1900's. Here is a preview of some of the nooses.  I have over 100 completed so far.

One reason I create artwork is to promote dialog and education...so why not start here? How familiar are you with this side of American History? What questions do you still have?

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You are Invited!!!

Dear blog reader,

Who: You are one of the first few people to be cordially invited to my next art show.

What: This show is still in progress but will be addressing topics in the realm of African American history and African American Religious culture. The current goal is to look at the American history that is often left out of our education and use it to help people understand the historical context that various American heroes such as Malcolm X and James Cone were responding to.

When: The show will be up from November 8th through November 17 (possibly a bit longer).  The opening will be Thursday the 10 from 6 - 8pm.

Where: The University of Wyoming UpGallery.  In the Fine Arts building.

Here is the Facebook event page and my art page for those of you who use FB (you don't need a FB account to view the pages).  Feel free to RSVP. 

Hope to see you there!

Noose Wild

I am currently in the process of creating several (230) nooses for my African American Religious Culture (the name will probably change) show.  There were 230 people lynched in 1892 and the lynchings continued until the early 1950's.  If they are used in this project, the goal will be to help people understand the culture that African American heroes like Malcolm X and James Cone were responding to.

This culture of hate saw everything about blacks from their skin tone to their physical features as being ugly and evil was a culture that could not be ignored.  Blacks needed to fight for their own humanity.

More images below.