Did You Engage in #BlackOutTuesday?

I came back from #BlackOutTuesday to BS - to say lightly. Why are black people policing other black folk? Why the need to call out black people who decided to engage in the social media campaign as sheep?

Whatever the reasons black people decided to engage or not engage, whether they followed every task listed out or not for the social media campaign- we as a community shouldn’t jump down the others throat. Let your fellow black people BE. We’re already tired, stressed, and at our wits end without bashing other kinfolk for silencing their social media and posting a black square.

Engaged in Rest

For the day, my husband and I decided it was a well needed time for rest. We needed a damn nap! We needed to clear our mental to plan out our part in the resistance. My husband took the day off from work and we slept in. We woke up and went on a hike through Hoyt Arboretum. We spent the day with social media off and gave very little response to emails, post comments and messages.

An Opportunity to Make Something Great

During our hike we turned on our recorder and had the space to bounce ideas off one another for a series of posters we would create. Before heading to Hoyt Arboretum, my husband and I dropped off Black Tears to PushDot Studio to be captured. The amount of out pour and support from the piece deeply moves us. Last night we decided we would invest $1,000 into making 11x17 in poster prints to hand out to community members. For us, art is a visceral reflection of these times and our experiences. We wanted to provide these posters to protesters and community members as appreciation for their sacrifices, dedication, and time to the work of demanding justice for the deaths of hundreds of black men, women, and children by police brutality and racist vigilantes.

Right before we made it to Hoyt Arboretum I got an unexpected call from late senator Avel Gordly. This woman saw the first fruits of my artwork while I was a middle school child. She supported my work then and this moment wasn’t any different. I was able to pour out about my vision for these posters and she in turn gave my husband and I $1,000 for printing of the 2020 Black Tears poster. Speechless! I could cry. In turn I decided to gift her with the original piece framed.

Appreciation

I give deep appreciation to PushDot Studio employee Drew for working on the first A Never Ending Plight poster, 2020 Black Tears and donating his expertise and time to setting up the font and file format for printing.

I thank and give appreciation to my printmaker and friend Jeanette for donating 10 limited edition giclee prints of 2020 Black Tears, which I will have for sale in my boutique. Without Jeanette, my studio practice would not be where it is today. I thank her so much for her donation and support as a friend and ally.

I also want to take the space to thank Avel for her continued support of my practice. I’m still speechless and humbled at her generosity and love. I thank her for supporting the younger generation so we can continue the work needed in our communities.

New Piece Added to Resistance Works

Today I worked on a new piece. She is called Nina’s Fruit and speaks to what I wrote in my blog yesterday about her call to artists reflecting the times in their artistry. I’m deeply moved by Nina and have found myself singing her version of Strange Fruit regularly. Her haunting voice echoing through my mind as I reflect on the modern day lynchings of black bodies.

I didn’t want to paint the horrors of dead black bodies in my piece however, so I searched for strange fruit on Pinterest. I found a problematic poster titled “15 Weird & Exotic Fruits to Hunt Down” by Food Republic. It made me think about black people being labeled as strange fruit during lynchings. I placed a vine with the different fruits of Africa against a red background.

I hope you like and enjoy the second piece to this series. The original, posters, and limited edition giclee prints are now available in my Resistance Works boutique.

Nina's Fruit.jpg — Nina’s Fruit

Gouache, Acrylic, & Paint Pen on Watercolor Paper

“They treat us like bad investments, strange fruit ripe in the streets”

— Anderson DuBoise @adduboise

How You Can Support

If you would like to support my studio practice as my husband and I get ready to pass hundreds of posters out to the community, please feel free to purchase artwork from my boutique. I have 10 limited edition 2020 Black Tears prints available below. Here is the poster we will be giving out to the community!

You can donate here:

SUPPORT BLACK ART HERE

Exhaustion During the Resistance

Over the past week I have found myself to be exhausted. I’ve had insomnia. I’ve had moments where I’ve wanted to curl into the tiniest of ball and disappear. I’ve become excessive in keeping up to date with what’s going on in our world during these troubling times. COVID-19 and the consistent terror against black bodies throughout the United States of America feels never ending. I’ve had moments where I just burst into tears or hold my head in my hands and close my eyes very tight. I can feel the stress in my temples. A deep hurt in my heart from the pain of seeing black women, men, and children fighting, screaming, demanding justice BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! Our POC and white allies marching aside us and getting retaliated against pains me. Seeing that baby girl screaming violently after being pepper sprayed by police in Seattle, milk being thrown over her face to stop the pain, hurts me.

I can’t unsee George Floyd’s death. I can’t unsee the police tear gassing and beating peaceful protesters with their shields and batons. I can’t unsee Trump, with his bitch ass, being a horrible leader of our “free” nation. Trump using extreme force on our own citizens. The media being detained.

I feel so much anger of the whitesplaining. So much anger from racists comments about black people, about us, about me! So much anger from friends and family who support force used against black bodies, who care more about looting of businesses than human bodies. Those who have the privilege of not being affected by anything that is happening. Frustrated of those who are going on as business as usual. Mad as hell at those who twist historical figures and narratives to make them feel safe and confident in their USA.

Coping with Trauma and Injustice

To cope, I decided to pick up the brush. As Nina Simone once said, “An Artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times. I think that is true of painters, sculptures, poets, musicians. As far as I’m concerned, it’s their choice, but I CHOOSE to reflect the times and situations in which I find myself. That, to me, is my duty. And at this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when everyday is a matter of survival, I don’t think you can help but be involved. Young people, black and white, know this…So I don’t think you have a choice. How can you be an artist and NOT reflect the times? That to me is the definition of an artist.”

The first piece in this series of work is called “2020 Black Tears”. I wanted to explore unfamiliar mediums during this time of unrest. Gouache, acrylic paint pens, and ultra matte medium. I hearkened back to one of the first creative works I explored as an adolescent, wood carving. I was inspired by some of the artwork from the Black Panther Party and old black political artwork. Instead of getting wood and bringing my carving tools out, I did some color blocking on heavy watercolor paper and worked away at the piece with acrylic pens of various sizes.

This piece speaks to the constant pain I’ve felt this week. Just trying my best to maintain, be the proud black woman that I am, and support my people through this crisis and injustice. I hope you enjoy this new series of work. Power to the people. - Sade

Rest and the Movement Forward