Getting free on Juneteenth
I’ve seen a few interesting art developments connected to the idea of freedom, this Juneteenth. And though I hadn’t realized it until now, I’ve also been making small works about freedom and its absence.
These collages all have something to do with walls, most of the pieces featuring an enslaved person. Coincidentally, another enslaved person — Aunt Jemima — is finally free. After 131 years, Quaker Oats is retiring the syrup logo and the brand. This is especially great news to one of my favorite artists, Betye Saar, who’s best known for recasting Aunt Jemima as a revolutionary warrior.
Once you’ve liberated yourself, though… then what? Maybe you spend some time recovering from your trauma. Today Black artists are staging a “black out” of the CHOP [Capitol Hill Occupied Protest]. They’re offering a day of art and healing activities specifically for other Black people.
More importantly, these actions are meant to refocus attention on the Black Lives Matter movement. The art drawing people’s attention is still valid and restorative on its own. But this weekend is a reminder the art is also a means to the end: freeing people from constant assault on our existence.
Amped up to #amplifyBlackvoices
Whoa! Do you even know how many people and organizations are using their influence to amplify Black voices? This month, influential people and organizations are chasing Black artists like Brits following a cheese wheel downhill.
You probably know I’ve benefited from the attention, so… I might be a little biased.
There’s also:
YouTube’s “multiyear” $100 million fund to “center and amplify Black voices and perspectives”
Singer Halsey’s Black Creators Fund
Artist Trust’s list of Black-led arts and heritage organizations that you can support with your time and money
A ton of individuals, corporations and non-profits lending their social media to amplify Black voices. Ahem.
All right, I’ll bite (the hand currently feeding me). How long does the amplification last this time?
How many years in a YouTube “multiyear” commitment? Which specific Black creators benefit from the Halsey fund? Any social media takeover invites next year to artists with fewer than a thousand followers? Let’s act on this moment consistently — persistently — not just before and after Black History Month. Pace yourself. We’ll need your support in 2021 and 2022 and 2023…
Because Black *women's* lives matter as much as men's lives
I figured, George Floyd has been memorialized all over the world — even in war zones. So on what would’ve been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday, I went looking for her murals. Guess how many I found.
I found three.
The second one was done in Louisville, Kentucky. The last mural in Venice, California depicts her within a string of six other portraits, including George Floyd and Trayvon Martin. So every portrait of Breonna Taylor lumps her in a group of other dead Black people, or the portrait can easily be removed. The one mural in Taylor’s hometown of Louisville is in chalk. In contrast, most George Floyd tributes are painted on a concrete or brick wall.
The mural count is not a competition I want anyone to win. But I’m not alone in noticing how men are still prioritized over women in death and at protests. Author Brittany Packnett writes about the discrepancy in Time magazine. Black women deserve murals, preferably honoring their long, well-lived lives — not just their deaths. Breonna Taylor is more than an afterthought. She deserves more than temporary art.