(POEM) “A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, WHY I EMBRACE NATURAL HAIR AND REJECT WEAVE”
This poem is a pretty deep piece thats also making some valid points on some women’s relationships with their natural hair & their relationship with Black men (as well as some men’s standards of women’s beauty). Check it out!
The main purpose of starting this blog a few years ago was to find a place for my random photo/fashion inspirations and to highlight upcoming artists and art based exhibitions in my city of Chicago (along with a few other randoms.) Finally with more time I can do just that! This post focuses on Chicago Photo Exhibitions that are currently showcasing as of today (5/14/2012), I plan on going to see all of these and you should check them out too. In no particular order… here’s my list of shows to check out (In no specific order). I’ve been offered a really awesome opportunity to document art shows and artist visits in Chicago and can’t wait to get started!
First up, MATTHEW AVIGNONE ‘s ”Stranger than Family” Exhibit at the David Weinberg Photo Gallery (300 West Superior Street). I’ve heard amazing things about this show, and it’s received some great reviews from various publications (The Chicago Reader, F-STOP Magazine, NewCityArt, Proximity to name a few). Matthew is a Chicago based photographer and Columbia College Chicago alumni.
The statement for “STRANGER THAN FAMILY” follows
“For many, when hearing the word “family” brings other words to mind; mom, dad, brothers, sisters, love and birth. But what if you were flown into your mother and father’s arms not by a stork but by a Boeing 747. My siblings and I were all adopted across the pacific from the countries India and South Korea, we came from foster mothers and lonely orphanages to parents and a little home in Illinois, some of us healthy and some with life-inhibiting special needs ranging from neurofibromatosis to spina bifida. As a son I am interested in documenting our lives from the significant, such as a first birth, to the banality of my brother after his shower. For at one time we might have all been strangers, but with time, love and perseverance we are fortunate to call ourselves a family as one. “
(Photo by Dawoud Bey)
NEXT, DAWOUD BEY has not one but TWO PHOTO EXHIBITS showing right now in Chicago. (Not too many people can do that unless you’re awesome.) This time is being referred to as his “landmark moment” and that sounds about right! Bey has a long history of creating complex portraits of black Americans, a project he embarked on in the mid-70s while taking pictures of people in Harlem, N.Y. (taken from WBEZ article and interview with Dawoud. Read and listen to the interview HERE
ONE Exhibition is Dawoud Bey’s “Picturing People” showing at the University of Chicago’s Renaissance Society located at 5811 S. Ellis Avenue. It opened yesterday with a talk from Dawoud himself, somehow I missed that but this exhibit will be up until JUNE 24th. Gallery hours are Closed Mondays, Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Saturday, Sunday: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm.
The SECOND EXHIBITION from Dawoud Bey is “HARLEM USA” , showing at the Art Institute of Chicago for the first time in it’s entirety since the 1970s. I had the pleasure of making it to the opening of this exhibition and hearing Dawoud and fellow artist Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts whose work “Harlem Is Nowhere” relates to the subject. Pitts and Bey reflected on Harlem life in there ever inspiring interview at the Art Institute. “HARLEM USA” is nothing short of a great show from what I could see at the incredibly crowded opening (for that reason I’m stopping by the Art Institute to have a chance to view it again and appreciate without the crowd of people there.) Harlem USA opened on MAY 2nd and runs until SEPTEMBER 9th ( I might go see it more than once. As a student of Columbia College in Photography, I had the chance to take a course with Dawoud and decided to be practical and take up a much needed Photo History course instead, I still regret and kick myself for that decision. )
Last but not least is MIKE SCHREIBER’s photo exhibit entitled “TRUE HIP HOP” at THE SILVER ROOM located at 1442 N. Milwaukee Avenue in CHICAGO. Mike Schreiber is a self taught photographer based in New York. His photos capture the true essence of cultural life and perspective with an end result that is refined yet undeniably honest in its raw and gritty tone. Schreiber’s work has been featured in Esquire, Rolling Stone, TRACE, New York Magazine, VIBE, XXL, SLAM, SPIN and Arise. He’s photographed artists such as Mos Def, M.I.A., Common, De La Soul, Wu Tang, Nas and countless others. The opening reception took place with an awesome Q&A session with my good friend curator/co founder of Sixty Inches From Center, Ms. Tempestt Hazel and signing of Schreiber’s first book “TRUE HIP HOP” on May 5th. The exhibition runs until JUNE 16th. The Silver Room itself is a pretty great place to stop by, there’s plenty of items for unique items for sale. Read the interview with Schreiber HERE
With all that said, to those of you in Chicago, Happy Galley Hopping!
JASMINE MANS, ALYSIA HARRIS, JENNAH BELL - WAITING (POEM) The Striver’s Row
I can’t lie and say the first time I watched these ladies perform this beautiful piece of poetry and song during The Deans List 3 via LiveStream that I didn’t cry. The Striver’s Row is the most amazing groups of poets I’ve ever heard in my life, and Jennah Bell is an incredible singer. One day I hope to make a trip to New York and see them perform live, or if they ever make it as a group to Chicago I’ll most definitely be in the audience!!! (Had the pleasure of seeing Joshua Bennett of Striver’s Row perform in Feb. He was beyond amazing!)
more info on THE STRIVER’S ROW click here
![blacklensmovement:
[Lorna Simpson]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3f7q2JYqJ1rs7x5fo1_500.jpg)
[Lorna Simpson]
What looks right, or attractive, in a photograph is often no more than what illustrates the felt “naturalness” of the unequal distribution of powers conventionally accorded women and men. Just as photography has done so much to confirm these stereotypes, it can engage in complicating and undermining them. Susan Sontag – WOMEN 1999
as a fan of both Smith and Ross I have so much love for this… and the fashion!!!!!
Alice Smith.. doing a tribute to Miss Diana Ross… I soooo want to be in this closet.. <3<3
(Source: poemajones.com)
THIS IS TRUE!!!!!!! And they group everything down into tribal print…. -_-
It’s really disgusting that rich traditional prints from various cultures and communities across the vast, big ass, huge ass continent of Africa have been imitated, cheapened, and reduced to a 90% cotton 10% polyester blend that means nothing to the people wearing them but an array of pretty…
oh how I love Carrie Mae Weems!!! (My new work has been getting some interesting comparisons to hers and Lorna Simpson… those are big shoes to fill! )
Carrie Mae Weems | Kitchen Table Series, 1990
“… an invented love story that revolves around a woman’s identity in relation to her male partner and child.”
(Source: MoCP, via justcallmedia:)
Me!!! Caught at the Columbia College B.A./B.F.A. Photo exhibition (there’s some really cool work in there. Go see it!)
Ka’lan! Jones! (Taken with instagram)
an awesome set of beautiful photos from a fellow artist, Joshua Esmanuel-David Slater.
Joshua Esmanuel-David Slater
“L’Autre-chienne”, 2012
Marie Antoinette character of myth.
— with Alexandria Eregbu.
“An Afro-Surreal aesthetic addresses these lost legacies and reclaims the souls of our cities, from Kehinde Wiley painting the invisible men (and their invisible motives) in NYC to Yinka Shonibare beheading 17th (and 21st) century sexual tourists of Europe. From Nick Cave’s soundsuits to the words you are reading right now, the message is clear: The world is ready for an Afro-Surreal art movement.”
