Thoughts on Bi-Lingual + the Artists’ Roundtable

Ayanah Moore brings our attention to whiteness, its relevance on the concept of minority and the void there is for artists to present their work in a space that accepts and does not to judge or weigh alternative representational systems. We are acculturated to perceive whiteness as a state of grace separated from race and ethnicity. We face here (and forget most of the time) that the race concept was invented by the white culture. A white dominating society needn’t to define them. Whites distanced themselves from an ethnic concept and proclaimed to hold “the superior” culture.  As a foreigner, not immigrant, from one of the regions of Latin America I understand Moore’s distrust of events created to highlight your pain, differences, struggle and/or genetic make-up. Many events of this kind are produced with good will but still carry a colonialist mentality.  As soon as you mention that you belong ethnically or genetically to a non-white group you are immediately classified, as having or lacking certain characteristics. Moreover when you associate with your kin all sorts of assumptions and prejudices are set in place in order to “understand” what you and “your group” are about.

The challenges then for artists participating in a show like Bi-lingual are several. How can you associate with a group that shares some of the characteristics that define you while keeping your associations fresh and open? How do you carve a space where you can explore your “layers of complexity” and have a safe space for your findings?  How do you get away from the sometimes convenience of your own stereotypes?  Ultimately how do you remain honest to your origin, expand yourself, challenge the labels imposed on you and transcend as an artist?

My interest in this exhibit was to talk to some of the artists on opening night. To listen to the stories they had and to ask them why participate in an exhibit like this. I spoke with some of them. I found Michael Lovelace and his loving, unapologetical rendition of the Americana that belongs to all of us but that we choose to ignore. There is the work of Rafael Valdivieso-Troya and his archetypal/intellectual pieces created especially for this exhibit. In them we observe, receive and participate. We are set in front of a choir of brujas singing from the depths of our souls and choose which ones to listen to. Finally Saskia Jorda with a beautiful, open abstraction of her development of bilingualism as a child whose mother spoke to her in English and  whose father did it in  Cataluñan.   What I found was that there is a venue outside the ethnic sale. The three artists mentioned took the challenge and used it to present their realities and their reflections on the larger context.  All I can say is excellent job Angelica and Spaces. I am looking forward to see more of these artists and type of work again soon.

~ Lourdes Sanchez

Red Cabbage Braised in Red Wine

Angelica Pozo
angelica@angelicapozo.com | 65.43.160.43

We had a lively panel discussion last night at Spaces, and I want to thank all who came out and participated in the dialogue. Special thanks to all the artists present and to Ayanah for doing such a great job moderating. Afterwords we had a delicious pot luck for which I made Red Cabbage Braised in Red Wine and many wanted to know what was in it. So for you all here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Red Cabbage Braised in Red Wine

1 head of red cabbage, about 1 1/2 pounds
salt
2 TBsp olive oil
2 large celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 medium sized red or yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBsp finely chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
pinch of dried thyme
10 juniper berries
freshly ground pepper
1 large tart apple, grated
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup golden raisins
strong red wine vinegar

Blanching the cabbage keeps it sweet-tasting, so begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. While it is heating, cut the cabbage into quarters, remove the cores, and cut the cabbage into narrow shreds. When the water comes to a boil, add salt to taste and the cabbage. Boil for 2 minutes, then pour the cabbage into a colander and set it aside to drain.

Warm the oil in a wide pan and add the celery, carrot, onion, garlic, parsley, bay leaf, thyme and juniper berries. Season with salt and plenty of pepper cook over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the cabbage and the apple. Stir everything to combine. If the pan is crowded, use a pair of tongs to pick everything up and turn it over.

Pour in the wine and water, cover the pan, and cook over medium heat. Check after 20 minutes or so, add the raisins and turn the vegetables over. Continue cooking uncovered, until the liquids are reduced to a syrup, about 25 minutes or more. Taste for salt, add enough red wine vinegar to give it a lively edge, and serve.

Check out some reviews of Bi-Lingual

Being in Two Places,  by Doug Max Utter, Cleveland Scene, September 16, 2008

Exhibit by artists who straddle two cultures offers fresh perspective,  by Steve Litt, The Plain Dealer,September 17, 2008

Bi-Lingual opening night!

A guest and Sana Musasama's work

Angelica Pozo and Michelangelo Lovelace

Executive Director Christopher Lynn with son Moses

Viewing Shani Richards

Viewing Juan-Si & Paloma's installation

Responding to Bi-Lingual–the redux

Today it is popular to think of the terms race and culture as other to whiteness. Race is a human made, social construct not a biological fact. Culture, suggests intellectual, moral and aesthetic cultivation. Is it not ironic, that some people are raced while others are not? Some are constantly invited to scrutinize who they are, while others granted the privilege of invisibility. How does this phenomenon impact the expectations of artists in general, and artists of color in particular? How did we get into this position? Critically analyzing the source of such popular constructions is worthwhile.

After declining the invitation to exhibit in Bi-Lingual, I praised the efforts of the show but suggested that my artwork was not a good fit. I feared the curatorial framework might reduce the layers of complexity I’ve worked so hard to achieve. In response to my criticism, I was invited to lead an on-line discussion/panel capturing views I expressed. The essay would not be a review of the Bi-Lingual artists’ works, but rather a re-articulation of the critique that informed my decline—namely that some art exhibitions limit the interpretation of artists of color.

By posing questions about whiteness, my aim was to expand how race and culture are engaged today. I am concerned about the ways in which curatorial frameworks restrict dialogue by and about artists of color. What happens when curatorial vision reinforces the very problems it seeks to challenge? Should we instead aim to deconstruct systems that have created the boxes we’ve been taught to play in? Just as my own work examines gender and popular culture, it also addresses the medium of printmaking and the history of portraiture. While offers to speak about form or the techniques I employ are rare, I am frequently invited to probe identity and victimization issues.

The goal of “Identity Shows: Invisible Whiteness and Colored Display” is to challenge and hopefully inspire a more inclusive commentary about the politics of cultural showcases like Bi-Lingual. It is my hope that this on-line forum will elicit a more informed dialogue.

Ayanah Moor–

Identity Shows: Invisible Whiteness and Colored Display

During a live nationally televised celebrity fundraiser in 2005, rapper Kanye West harshly criticized the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Departing from a script designed to educate the public about the hurricane disaster, West offered personal commentary about the tragedy challenging the public to donate to the struggling people of New Orleans and offering sharp indictment of law enforcement behavior and the U.S. president. West’s claim “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” was widely publicized after the broadcast. But little attention was paid to West’s full statement, a rant that included, “I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, “They’re looting.” You see a white family, it says, “They’re looking for food…” Why didn’t news outlets examine these words? Why no public discussion of West’s attack of media representation? Is it easier to grab the public’s attention with a titillating sound byte about black victimization, rather than address the subjectivity of television news programming?

Solely reducing Kanye West’s critique to “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” not only disregarded West’s insightful media literacy, it also sold a lot of newspapers. The spectacle of race has always generated buzz, and in America when cleverly packaged, it sells product. There is an interesting correlation between the selective highlight of West’s words and the curatorial framing of shows designed to address race and featuring artists of color. Most race-themed exhibitions don’t include white artists and are rarely conceived with white identity in mind. Rather than address race as a social construction, only the mark of blackness (color) is examined. Disregarding the history of race’s function as a hierarchy of meaning and value, whiteness is left unassigned. The byproduct of such omission suggests that race is an issue for non-whites. And so art exhibitions about race, albeit well intentioned, become a spectacle of otherness—communicating that whiteness means status quo (normal) and non-white implies difference. How does this selective staging of race effect how we perceive images and people? Does such a showcase amount to little more than a cultural safari of victimization?

Challenging the ghettoization of cultural programming is not an effort to transcend race. Cultural production is important and so are the voices of all artists. But it is crucial that curators, and artists avoid the trap of one-sided examinations. When artists participate in limited frameworks, they run the risk of self-exploitation. In Black Looks: Race and Representation, cultural critic bell hooks says, “Within commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture.” How do you view the selection of artworks in Bi-Lingual? Does it dare to depart, like Kanye West, from the limited script of most race-based public dialogues? Or does it offer bi-lingual palettes for the public to consume?

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de Moraes, Lisa, Kanye West’s Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC, (washingtonpost.com) Sept. 3, 2005; pg. C01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html

hooks, bell, Black Looks: Race and Representation. (South End Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992), pg. 21.

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Ayanah Moor is a visual artist and associate professor in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Moor’s artwork addresses contemporary popular culture through an interrogation of gender identity and vernacular aesthetics and has been featured in publications such as: Critical Inquiry (University of Chicago Press); Home Girls Make Some Noise: A Hip Hop Feminism Anthology (Parker Publishing); Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip Hop Generation (Cleis Press) and Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism (Indiana University Press). Moor completed her BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University and her MFA at Tyler School of Art.