I neglect this news blog and when I remember about it's existence, whatever is happening already happened, too busy eating crisps I guess!!
What else have I been up to? well...
I've been working on zines and workshops and a couple of pieces of new work, like this piece that I created for an Alan Menken evening as part of Manchester After Hours...
And this piece, Brown Girl In The Pit, that has been exhibited as part of Girl Gang Manchester's See My Selfie Exhibition and at Decolonise Fest in London...
I've also taken part in an event for the See My Selfie exhibition that saw me life modelling dressed as Josephine Baker (again) as part of a drink and draw evening. I also Whipped out my Poly Styrene dress I made for my 21st birthday to life model at Bury Art Museum as part of their Identity exhibition.
It also coincided with the launch of my What, Is She Black Now? exhibition at Bury Art Museum, which is up until mid July!!
My Rad friend and super artist Alison Erika Forde is also opening up her home as a gallery for an afternoon. So Manchester people can pop down on June 25th to see work by her, me, Kandy Diamond and Lee Crocker!
I finally managed to make it to DIY Cultures and tabling there was a blast. I also tabled at the fanciest venue to date, Tate Britain!!
Workshop wise, I've been doing zine making workshops with the Whitworth youth collective and a felt portrait workshop at International Slavery Museum in Liverpool.
I will be doing two more zine workshops over summer, one sees me returning to International Slavery Museum on August 5th and another one for Tate Britain on July 22nd!!!
PHEW!
right off to go work on my favourite issue of Brown Girl yet!!
I'm not really sure what I made in 2015, I did a mixture of things, zines, music, touring, commissions and worked on half finished projects that are still not fully finished!
Towards the end of the year I did do two straight forward portrait pieces, one to feature in a zine and one as a gift.
I really enjoyed the process and think I would like to do more, as commission pieces or as a project together. Stitching portraits made me feel like I could draw and I've always wanted that!
Every year October rolls around far too quickly and once I get over the excitement of the fact that Halloween will soon be here, I remember it's Black History Month and I haven't done anything for it, even though every year I tell myself I will! This year is no exception, but I thought I don't have time to make something new, so why not talk about the things I have made in the past that directly link to me being brown, so..... The Angela Davis
In 2011 I made a postcard sized work to be included in an auction. I found this postcard with pictures of 70s ladies with bouffant hairstyles. I then stitched afro hairstyles on top of them and called it The Angela Davis. I have since turned the image into 3 badges I sell online and at zine fairs. This piece has caused much confusion from 'isn't that racist' to 'oh, that's not the Angela Davis I was thinking of'. All said by white people! I find it sometimes make people feel uncomfortable, I don't think that was my initial intention, but I like that it can do that. I most likely did it just on a whim, but I suppose it's a commentary on how such a political figure and daring icon, can just be reduced to a hairstyle. Or the age old stealing of cultures from POC and sold on by white people! What, Is She Black Now? In 2013 I decided I wanted to do some felt portraits instead of sculptural work. I came up with the idea of taking some of my favourite fictional characters and making them POC! It's a comment on how the majority of pop culture I love is white (a commnet on the world AND myself) and how more often than not, when a character of colour is included it is conducive to the plot. They don't just happen to be black, it is somewhere along the lines to raise an issue. I decided what if Enid Coleslaw was a brown weirdo? That story could still be told the same! I got some postcards printed up of these pieces for others to hang on their wall or send to friends, I later turned this into a fabric I made into a dress for my 30th birthday and later a still a notebook!
Brown Girl Zine In 2011 I finally put my love of zine making and Jamaican heritage to good use and made a zine all about being a brown girl! With rants, feelings, family histories and more. I made issue 2, Brown Girls, this year with some contributions from friends, and features a lot on art and music made by rad POC. I'm hoping it's a zine I can carry on and feature voices of a whole bunch of POC!
If you only read one thing during Black History Month make sure it's something from Rainbow Noir they are posting some great stuff, from people who so often don't get their voice heard. You never know next year I might have finished that project I started last year, in time for Black History Month!
Last week saw me take a solo trip to New York. I saw a lot of inspiring things, whether it was street art or just the sun! But I did also take in some art in galleries. This is all my favourite stuff....
I had never heard of Carrie Mae Weems until I saw her work here, in fact I didn't have a clue what was on at the Guggenheim, I went because I was given a voucher for free entry, I am so glad I did go. Photography/video is not usually one of my favourites, I like it, but there is normally something I like more. But this made me smile so much. Weems is a black artist from Portland and all her work focuses in on race, gender, sex and class, so it was pretty much a given I was going to like it. From her shots of children shot in black and another colour entitled 'colored people' to her kitchen table series. One of my favourites was Ain't Jokin' which featured portraits of people with text underneath, the text ranging from playground chants to racist stereotypes. Another favourite was work from the American Icons collection. everyday household items, shot within the setting they would be used, but just so happen to be racist paraphernalia. SO GOOD!
This show was one of the main reasons I made my trip to NYC and it did not disappoint. So many great pieces of work I could get right up close to and stick my face in (I love to do this, getting so close I can see the lines!). First up was Lindsey's work, which was a series of paintings (gouache on wood panel) featuring women, creatures and volcanoes. Far removed from her previous work of paper diorama's (that I too loved). The works were filled with sadness, adventure, empowerment, science and love. But most of all they made me want to go home and make the world's greatest quilt! Then came Jessicka's work (now I me be biased as she's been pretty much a hero of mine since my mid teens!) but when works of art feature cat's and girls, I'm most likely going to be a fan! Acrylic on panel, vivid colours, cat's and girls looking forlorn and lost, fell totally in love. Especially with one piece called Sad Purple (yes it is the piece of a brown girl!). Lastly was Lori's work. I was unaware of her until this show, and let's just say she made it a triple whammy of greatness. Her larger pieces, which I think were mostly oil on wood and were like looking at illustrations for children's nursery rhyme books, but with a dark twist. She also had pieces that were little plaques with a resin coat, of all sorts of creatures (reminiscent of carnival freakshows) children with scales or hair or several eyes, all in prayer, I loved these
This one BLEW ME AWAY! Set in an old sugar refinery (a place where they turn brown sugar white!), that had previously had a fire there, so when you arrived it just smelt like burnt sugar, this was enough to win me over. You step inside and you're basically in a huge empty warehouse and created by life size figurines of children carrying baskets, made from what looks like brown sugar! At the end of space is a giant Sphinx/woman. A sugar sculpture of a racial stereotype mammy face, with huge oversized breasts, fingers toes, vagina and all. It is one of those seen to be believed pieces, speaking about race, gender, sexualisation, wealth and probably so much more! I am so glad I got to see this piece (it was touch and go and squeezed it in just hours before my flight).
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