myself and two colleagues started an artist collective we're calling 5/5 (fivefifths). our first group show debuts next friday at CCA. #amen for beginnings.
BLACK ARTSTORY MONTH 2017 PRESENTS THE ALTAR: RITUALS IN HEALING IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
For the first time, Sibyl #2, Sibyl #3 and Sibyl #4 will be on view together! See them at T/PSY Brooklyn in February.
Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership presents its 5th Annual Black Artstory Month, The Altar: Rituals of Healing in the African Diaspora curated by Suhaly Bautista-Carolina.
Featuring the work of over 30 Brooklyn-based visual artists, and 20 businesses, the FREE month-long event series and Artwalk explores the vital role and traditions around healing, restoration, and realignment in African Diasporic communities.
On view: February 1-28 at T/PSY, 584 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn NY, 11205.
Events take place every Friday evening and include everything from dance, visual art and live exhibitions to film screenings and poetry readings along Myrtle Avenue.
Learn more about Black Artstory and RSVP for events here.
Kerry James Marshall, Red (If They Come In The Morning), 2011
the first week of classes have begun and i'm back in the studio. having spent half my break in brooklyn, i was able to make it to Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at the MET Breuer.
a phenomenal show, i'm motivated to create, more than ever, on my own terms. tis the beauty of seeking and finding Black representations / Blackness in the Museum.
Marshall's above painting is my latest obsession. it's steering the completion of this piece from last semester.
more to come...
EVERY DAY, I EMPLOY THE DIALECT OF UNTAMED HURRICANES. I speak the mad- ness of opposing winds.
Every evening, I use the patois of furious rains. I speak the rage of over- flowing waters.
Every night, I speak to the islands of the Caribbean in the language of hysterical storms. I speak the madness of the sea in heat.
Dialect of hurricanes. Patois of rains. Language of storms. Unfolding of life in a spiral.
In its essence, life is tension. Toward something. Toward someone. Toward oneself. Toward the point of maturation where the ancient and the new unravel. Death and birth. And every being finds itself – in part – in pursuit of its double. A pursuit that might even seem to bear the intensity of need, of desire, of infinite quest.
Dogs pass by (I’ve always been obsessed with stray dogs). They yap at the silhouette of the woman I’ve been chasing. At the image of the man I’ve been seeking out. At my double. At the murmurings of fleeting voices. For so many years now. It feels like thirty centuries.
The woman has left. Without fanfare. Left my heart out of tune. The man never held out his hand to me. My double is always just a step ahead of me. And the unhinged throats of nocturnal dogs let loose terrifying howls, making the sound of a broken accordion.
It is then that I become a tempest of words, bursting open the hypocrisy of clouds and the deceitfulness of silence. Rivers. Storms. Flashes of light- ning. Mountains. Trees. Lights. Rains. Untamed oceans. Take me away in the frenzied marrow of your joints. Take me away! It would take just a hint of clarity for me to be born with nine lives. For me to accept life. Tension. The inexorable law of maturation. Osmosis and symbiosis. Take me away! It would take just the sound of a footstep, a glance, a tender voice, for me to live happily in the hope that Man is capable of awakening. Take me away! For it would take so little for me to speak of the sap that circulates in the marrow of cosmic joints.
Dialect of hurricanes. Patois of rains. Language of storms. I speak the unfolding of life in a spiral.
+Franketienne
Translated from French by Kaiama L. Glover.
MFA STUDIO - WIP
a sis survived her first MFA semester...works to be continued in 2017.
COMMON - BLACK AMERICA AGAIN
first mfa critique.
all the words listed were contributed by a group of my peers to describe the work in my studio. the top 5 words (circled) were selected to best describe my current practice and will be inverted to inspire a work that is the "anti-me."
1. iconographic
2. metissage
3. narrative
4. theanthropic
5. vibrant
I moved to the Bay Area to pursue my master's in Fine Arts!
Exciting, I know. Yet, leaving Brooklyn is bittersweet.
My love affair with New York began 6 years ago when I moved there from Detroit by way of Chicago. Since then, New York and me, we've been each other's ride or die. I can confidently say, I love New York and New York loves me. Brooklyn, BedStuy and Harlem especially, lifted a sis up!
I met some dope humans during my time in the city. Scholars, activists, students, administrators, artists and creatives all made my years there unforgettable. They, along with my fam, made the concrete jungle a sista's playground. Thanks to StudioBoothCo, Tiff McFierce and Ode to Babel, I was able to preserve this special moment and bid NYC a proper farewell.
See the album in full here.
in celebration of my next chapter.
Directed by Andy Hines
Cinematography by Jeff Powers
Edited by Jason Eisener
Color Grade by Quinn Alvarez @ Apache
Creative Director Kwasi Fordjour
Produced by Nathan Scherrer @ FREENJOY
Styling by Timothy Chernyaev / Armina Mussa / Olivia Hines