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| "We did not Enslave Ourselves" 2022 |
Kinfolk is truly a heavy gallery experience if you ever witness these works in person as the room seeps and oozes with a deep history filled with love and pain. I was lucky enough to help with the gallery label set up due to my visit to the gallery with Professor. Yoshimoto who helped curate this gallery and piece it together–It also was quite unfortunate that the next class period I would miss a talk by the artist herself: Danielle Scott. Scott created these pieces as she was on leave for sabbatical (a difficult feat!) and integrated collaging as well as gold leaf and resin. Her use of resin was quite interesting mostly due to how she poured them out into layers giving each artwork a sense of depth. Despite all this, I would have to say that my favorite pieces within the collection would be the two tie-in pieces titled, “ We did not Enslave Ourselves” and “Griff (the offspring of someone labeled “Negro”). I felt that those two pieces not only were visually striking but were emotionally impactful as both featured elements that are well known to the African American community and its deep rooted history with slavery. Due to being unable to speak to the artist directly at her Artist Talk; I was left with alot of questions that I wish I could’ve brought up but luckily enough, a week beforehand, Professor. Cacoilo was able to answer some of the burning questions I had originally wanted to ask the artist. I was informed that not only were the pieces just generally connected to each other narratively but that they were also made in unison. The aluminum noose featured in the work was actually casted in the sand of the second piece in order to make an imprint, (and even for the imprint alone, Scott created a nose out of rope herself to form the cast.) Not only that but there were small elements of cotton throughout her work and these two pieces brought even more interest due to the fact that the cotton plant that was laid out was cotton that the artist herself picked with her own hands from an old New Jersey plantation. The amount of historical and emotional layers on just those two pieces alone is fascinating as the rest of the artworks that were created throughout the show also feature that same historical heaviness that is in fact a reality that many still do face on a daily basis.
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| "Griff (the offspring of someone labeled "Negro")" 2022 |
In relation to our previous blog readings I find an interesting connection between Susan Sontag’s views on photography as a medium and how it is used to capture reality in the same way as Danielle Scott uses images of people to spill out a history that is attempting to be erased. It’s often a struggle within education and society that we are told to never forget history as “history repeats itself” But within our respective countries history is being erased at an alarming rate in order to paint a false picture of what reality was. Black history within America has always been sugar coated and glazed over, only seen as the past and that all the wrongs were fixed when in fact it was quite recently that segregation was abolished within American history. Many people within America often don't realize that slaves built this country and that the backbone of our society was carried by slaves–yet, in our schools we only glaze over Martin Luther Kings “I Have a Dream” speech and call it a day. The true horrors of what the slaves faced as a reality is beyond any other nightmare you can dream of. Black Lives Matter is a movement solely dedicated to the preservation of black lives and its history because without it we are doomed to forget and repeat our past sins, we must never forget. With each face that you happen to glance at within this gallery you are able to witness a reality that is attempting to be erased by our very eyes. It’s some really powerful work.
I wasn’t attempting to preach, but I truly felt something powerful as soon as I step foot into the Lemmerman Gallery. It felt like all the faces within that room began staring at me stating, “Come closer and see.” It is so incredibly important to support black queer artists like Danielle Scott as artists have always been the first people in history to create a movement of change. With the support from the public and the support of other local marginalized groups we can see a flourishment of various works that tell a history that's often forgotten or silenced. This gallery installment should be a helpful reminder to the general public that we mustn't forget our flags, our homelands,and our history–as we are doomed to repeat it.
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