“Where some may see flat, static narratives, I see a spectrum of tonal gradations and realities. What I am creating is literally black portraiture with ballpoint pen ink. I'm looking for that in-between state in an individual where the overarching definition is lost. Skin as geography is the terrain I expand by emphasizing the specificity of blackness, where an individual’s subjectivity, various realities and experiences can be drawn onto the diverse topography of the epidermis. From there, the possibilities of portraying a fully-fledged person are endless.” MayPersonsStatesRealityIndividualLostBlackPossibilityCreatingSkinsDefinitionsVariousEndlessNarrativeFlatsPensDiverseInkSpectrumGeographyStaticBlacknessSubjectivityTerrainPortrayingPortraitureSpecificityTopographyBallpoint Pens Author:Toyin Odutola
“No other creative field is as closed to those who are not white and male as is the visual arts. After I decided to be an artist, the first thing that I had to believe was that I, a black woman, could penetrate the art scene, and that, further, I could do so without sacrificing one iota of my blackness or my femaleness or my humanity.” FirstsBelieveArtArtistHumanityBlackWhiteCreativeSacrificeFieldsSceneRacismDecidedMalesVisualsSexismBlack WomenPenetrateBlacknessVisual Art Author:Faith Ringgold
“We cannot continually barricade ourselves under some falsified idea of race, because our idea of blackness and race is simply reactionary. Africans didnt walk around Africa being black and proud, they walked around proud.” IdeasBlackWalksRaceProudBlacknessReactionariesBarricades Author:Saul Williams
“Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundown.” BlackDrinkBitternessMilkHolocaustBlacknessDaybreak Book:Paul Celan: poems Source: Paul Celan: poems
“We tend to misunderstand the colour black, seeing it as evil, or negation of life. Rather, black means all things being possible, infinite energy of life before consciousness has constructed any boundaries. When we fear blackness or darkness we fear the deep unconscious source of life itself.” MeanEvilEnergyBlackConsciousnessDarknessSeeingSourceAll ThingsInfiniteBoundariesColourUnconsciousBlacknessNegationSource Of LifeEnergy Of Life Author:Rachel Pollack
“Being a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness and your black presence.” PeopleWantFirstsArtistBlackImportanceBlackness Author:Toyin Odutola
“It doesn't surprise me that aspect of the black nationalist movement, the cultural side, has triumphed because that is the aspect of the movement that was most commodifiable and when we look at the commodification of blackness we're looking at a phenomenon that's very profitable and it's connection with the rise of a black middle class I think is very obvious.” ThinkingLooksSidesBlackClassMiddleMovementAspectConnectionsSurpriseObviousMiddle ClassPhenomenonProfitableBlacknessSurprise MeCommodification Author:Angela Davis
“One of the facets of growing up the way I did, I never had the experience of being solely in the black community. Even my family, my mother is what they call Creole, so she's part French, part black, and grew up in Louisiana. It's a very specific kind of blackness that is different than what is traditionally thought of as the black community and black culture. So, I never felt a part of whatever that was.” WayKindDifferentMotherCultureFeltBlackCommunityGrowing UpGrowingGrewGrew UpMy FamilyBlacknessFacetsLouisianaBlack CommunityBlack CultureCreole Author:Justin Simien