image politics
I have mixed feelings coming out of the Kara Walker exhibit at the Domino Sugae Factory. The work was particularly amazing. It was all strongly executed and amazing to behold. The only sticking point, the mass consumption atmospher of the crowds. It was a sugary delight for a Friday evening. I am sure the history behind the pieces was lost to 99% of the audience. What did they really wait in line for?
model #22 Ameria Lennard, hair and make up by Jose L. Lopez
an outtake from the very first reImagining shoot! here's to the next 99!
I just braved the cold for the most amazing exhibition in Harlem - the Belletrix exhibit currently showing at ImageNation!
These amazing artists created a beautiful multi-media exhibition that expressed the diversity of the Black female artist's work.
And it was wonderfully received! Make sure to catch it before it closes May 1st!
If you have not been to this amazing exhibition currently at the Guggenheim, you must go!
I am a huge Weems fan girl, but have never seen the entire Kitchen Table Series exhibited together. It is so intricately woven, it made me want to weep! Check it out on level 2!
Then head to level 4 for the ground breaking From Here... Series and just bask in the brilliance of her ability to make text and image bend to her will!
Out of my overwhelming respect for the artist, I will not post the few picks of the exhibit I was able to sneak in, but I will show you how well received her work was. I heart you Carrie Mae!
I tried to wait for the newsletter....
....but I just had to tell you! The reImagining is going to party!!! Join us Friday, October 1th for a night of celebration and reflection on this groundbreaking visual arts project. Make sure to RSVP here! And please continue to support the launching of the project with your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation by clicking here! Please spread the word and share this link with everyone you know and on all of your social networks - repeatedly! I am so looking forward to getting started - but first, let's party! See you all in October!
The Manipulated Light & Power Series is my latest series dealing with race and gender identity. I like to call it the prequel to the larger, still in production, the reImagining. While the reImagining deals with the fight against stereotyping, Manipulated Light & Power series speaks on the mental repercussion of the moment you first realize this stereotyping is happening to you. The exhibition is a series of five images depicting the progression of this realization, and the vicious cycle as it constantly occurs in the everyday life of Black women. Making literal the metaphor in Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, I used light as the protagonist in the images. I wanted the light to work to both hide and define the models identity in the same manner paralleling the ability of stereotypes to do the same. The actual physical installation to be creates for these images will heighten that disparity. By manipulating the images with a pulsating light source I want to make the viewer recognize the ease of identity manipulation. Putting that light source on an intensifying cycle will work to show that the moments of stereotyping are harsh, constant, and never ending.
As you can see, I have already started working on the prototype. I like the way the images are working together and flowing together. But, there is work to be done. My next steps include flushing out the design of the plexiglas cube. How constructed do I want the frame to be? How do I get lights to actually work and then pulsate in the cycle I want? Should there be sound? If I design it, can I find someone to fabricate it? Those are just a few of the questions I am working on. Feel free to stay tuned as I realize the last steps of this exhibition.
Just for fun - I am leaving you with an idea of the feeling I would like the install to feel. Yeah slow exposure!
