Tag: jetsonorama

gallery installation, jetsonorama, new print!

spirits in a material world (the lazy stitch show)

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May 3, 2018 the show “Lazy Stitch” opened.  Organized by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger the promotional material for the show reads “…

AZY STITCH exhibition opened May 3 at Ent Center for Contemporary Art UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art
Colorado Springs, CO. Organized by Cannupa Hanska Luger with collaborating artists Chip Thomas, Jesse Hazelip, Kali Spitzer, Kathy Whitman & 1000 Tiny Mirrors. Lazy Stitch is on exhibition through July 21, 2018

Contemporary artists from diverse backgrounds work together in collaboration with artist Cannupa Hanska Luger to present a new exhibition that investigates the interconnectedness of the human story. Through social engagement, public art, monumental sculpture, mural installation, photography, performance and wearable sculptural regalia, Lazy Stitch takes the relationship of the bead and the thread as its context, co-creating narrative about life on this planet.

“What constitutes a bead is the hole. It holds the thread. The voided matter actually creates the function of the object. This void becomes the potential for connection. In this respect, finding value in the relationship between humans acknowledges the importance of intersecting experiences which create a larger narrative.” -Cannupa Hanska Luger

The term lazy stitch describes a sewing methodology often used in Indigenous beadwork. Individual multi-colored beads are threaded and sewn, one row at a time, eventually revealing a complex image when all rows are complete. The lazy stitch is an approach to craft-making, but also represents a value system in which each individual is important to the whole. Lazy Stitch uses this metaphor as a way to explore contemporary issues through collaborative practice, while revealing the potential for collective social agency.”

This past February I spent a weekend with Cannupa, artist Cheyenne Randall and curator Erin Joyce.  It was this time that afforded me the opportunity to learn stories about deities from the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara of North Dakota.  Cannupa gave the framework of the warrior twins Big Medicine and Black Medicine (whom he referred to as “The One Who Checks” and “The One Who Balances”).  For this show he imagined them as spirit guides who returned to the material plane to remind those who know, those who read the signs that it’s time for us to address our environment + social injustices.  Cannupa and Cheyenne spent a day dressed in the regalia Cannupa and his mom, Kathy Whitman made for spirit beings as they went about their day engaging in acts of civil disobedience with the infrastructure of the extractive fossil fuel industry, getting food from a local trading post and getting gas from another trading post.  A day in the life with the hero archetypes…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lazy Stitch

tintype photo by kali spitzer with the beaded portrait created by cannupa + various communities collaborating with the project by making clay beads.

 

jesse hazelip pasteups of bomber buffaloes

 

 

decorated ceramic buffalo skulls + barbed wire sculpture by cannupa + jesse

 

rope performance by 1000 tiny mirrors

 

 

the warrior twins battling the extractive fossil fuels industry beast

 

Limited edition (50), hand-pulled screen print “spirits in a material world.”  One hundred percent of sales from the first 25 prints sold (at $50/print) resulted in $1250 being donated to the National Women’s Association of Canada.    They state on their website “…The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has worked for more than four decades to document the systemic violence impacting Indigenous women, girls, their families, and communities. From 2005 to 2010, NWAC’s Sisters In Spirit (SIS) Initiative confirmed 582 cases of missing and/or murdered Indigenous women and girls over a span of twenty years and worked to raise awareness of this human rights issue. ”  The remaining 25 prints will be sold through Justseeds.org.

jetsonorama, off the rez

blue light till dawn

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There’s a new project space that opened in Santa Fe recently called Biocultura.  They had an inaugural event April 23rd where they were one of several organizations to partner with the Smithsonian Institute to recognize Earth Day.  The event at Biocultura Santa Fe was called  Earth Optimism.  As taken from the Smithsonian website:
Earth Optimism at Biocultura Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sunday, April 23, 2017, 5 PM – 7:30 PM MDT, 1505 Agua Fria Street
Earth Optimism Santa Fe connects globally and acts locally to feature the work of artists, students and scientists responding to environmental
challenges and opportunities. Our aim for this event is to celebrate the
systems that keep our soil (and us) healthy. Featuring electronics pioneer Leah Beuchley, LA-based bio artist Mick Lorusso in a collaboration with Joel Ong, artist and designer Catherine Page Harris, Marfa-based artist Elise Sibley Chandler, biologist Renee Bronwyn Johansen and bio art and design students Kaitlin Bryson and Sabrina Islam. The event will also mark the launch of a work by Navajo Nation-based photo muralist and memberof the Justseeds cooperative Chip Thomas. More information under “events”at our website bioculturasantafe.com.
For the mural imagery I spent time with a young Hopi man named Hawthorne Dukepoo and his sister Metzli.  They live with their siblings, maternal grandma and parents on Third Mesa on the Hopi nation.  Though only 18 Hawthorne has been farming in his grandfather’s cornfield since age 12. I think Metzli said she and her twin sister started when they were five.   They’re about 10 now.  The cornfield had gone fallow several years.  Their mom, Lilian, taught him the traditional Hopi farming technique known as dry farming.  The seeds are placed in shallow holes.  During germination the roots burrow down to the water table.
Lilian and her husband manage a permaculture institute on 2nd mesa that focuses on traditional farming techniques, cob building and water harvesting.  In a region of the state considered a food desert their efforts provide healthy alternatives to food options available at local trading posts.  They also run a weekly farmer’s market.
The photo on the side of Biocultura shows Hawthorne preparing his field for planting next month by creating rows of wind blocks using nearby brush.  Metzli is in the background preparing brush for the wind block.
The photo on the front of the house is of Hawthorne holding sweet corn and Hopi red corn.  The woman in the window of one of the images of the front of Biocultura is artist and scientist Andrea Polli who cofounded Biocultura with her partner, artist + architect John Donalds.
poetry, spoken word

we be darker than blue (a jetsonorama + jess x. chen collaboration)

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backstory (as told to Ralf):

There is an art space in Brooklyn (BRIC) which hosts a once monthly poetry slam. The MC is poet and Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe poetry director, Mahogany L. Browne. BRIC will also be hosting the first night of the Women of the World Poetry Slam in March. I was invited to do a poetry themed mural for this event. I invited Sonia Sanchez to participate in the photo shoot with Mahogany L. Browne and based it on the Frida Kahlo painting “The Two Fridas.” However, this interpretation of that painting speaks to the migratory, trans Atlantic movement of the oral tradition + spoken word and it’s intergenerational manifestation as poetry.  Mahogany + Sonia are presented as exemplars of the tradition.

Around the time of my father’s death in June 2006 I had an experience with a bird.  I was outside at a friend’s condo and after 30 minutes on the phone with my dad I noticed a small bird in a nest who remained motionless and quiet with one eye riveted on me. My father implored me to come home to Raleigh with the words “come home son; dad is dying.”  The moment was dramatic, confusing and ultimately true.  I flew home the following day and spent 3 wonderful days with my dad before he underwent an outpatient procedure which led to his death as he never awoke from anesthesia.  The bird resting quietly in it’s nest an arm’s length away from me as my dad told me of his condition represented a messenger spirit between the worlds of the living and the dead.  The seagulls in the mural are signifiers of the freedom of movement across borders and communication with ancestral spirits.  In honor of one of Sonia’s poems Jess and I titled the mural “We Be Darker than Blue” as it speaks to intergenerational sisterhood.

 

with jess x (installing)

jess + i installing

 

with jess x

 

 

sonia-reading-2

sonia sanchez reading

mahogany-hugging-sonia

sonia and mahogany

ursula-and-me

shout out to supa sister ursula rucker who facilitated meeting and getting to work with sonia sanchez

 

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sonia seeing the mural for the first time

 

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mahogany l. browne, ursula rucker + sonia sanchez

 

jess

ian cozzens assisting; jess modeling

completed-mural

The setting for the mural is the Hungry Ghost cafe at Bric.  Before doing the photo shoot with Sonia and Mahogany in January I watched a documentary called “BadDDD Sonia Sanchez” and was moved upon seeing Sonia’s old notebooks in which she wrote and edited poems.  I asked her to bring a few of these to the shoot.  It was magical as she’d not looked at these notebooks for some time.  She flipped through pages remembering and sharing the stories that inspired the poems and discussed her process for creating poetry.  These images of her hands engaging tangible memories appear on the front counter.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this project manifest – Mahogany L. Browne, Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Jess X. Chen, Jennifer Gerow and the staff at Bric, Icy + Sot, Clara Darrason, Andrew Erdos + Ian Cozzens.  I want to give a special shout out to Alexandria Johnson who reminded us all that good spirits are amongst us.  Y’all made magic happen!

 

community

it only got up to 23 degrees today

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santa-in-tuba-city

santa outside tuba city

 

sheep-1a-in-cow-springs

 

lola

 

 

luci's trailer

Luci’s trailer on Christmas Day

 

It only got up to 23 degrees today.  Not only was it cold, it was windy as shit.  All day.  Cold + windy.  As I was driving from the rez into Flagstaff I was thinking of the effort Klee Benally is making to distribute warm clothing and blankets to indigenous folks staying outside in the winter.  His campaign is called No More Native Deaths (I think.)  As I was driving I remembered seeing the last time I was in town a Diné friend who has fallen on hard times and who is living outside in Flagstaff now.   I wondered if he’s staying at the mission in town.

I made it to Flagstaff and was running errands when I encountered the friend I’d been worrying about.  He was dressed in many layers on this cold + windy day when the temperature only got up to 23 degrees.  His speech was slurred and he had a swagger in his step.  I gave him a hug telling him:

“I’d been was just thinking about you in this cold weather as I drove in from the rez.  Are you staying at the mission” I asked.

He confirmed that he’s not staying at the mission.  I told him about Klee’s campaign and that I worried about him living outside now to which he replied:

“5 people have already frozen to death this week.”

He said he wanted help with some food.  My friend with whom I’d just eaten and I had some nice leftovers and shared those. He thanked us, we hugged again and went our separate ways into a wind that cut like a knife.

community

building community

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“The war of an artist with his society is a lover’s war and he does at his best what lover’s do which is to reveal the beloved to himself and with that revelation to make freedom real.”      James Baldwin

When I started wheat pasting large images along the roadside in 2009 I imagined it as an opportunity to deepen my relationship with the community where I work on the rez.  I often thought of this process as an experiment in building community in which I knew the medium for building community but was uncertain of the outcome.  What I’ve learned along the way is the importance of trust and how the process of building community parallels nurturing a friendship.

As a documentary photographer I believe everyone has a unique story though not everyone wants their story told.  But for those who do a trusting relationship established over time with the story teller is critical to an objective telling of this story.  I’ve learned inadvertently that taking someone’s words and writing or painting them directly onto their face is akin to the exercise of falling backwards trusting that the person positioned behind you will really catch you and prevent you from hitting the floor.  Unlike writing onto a photograph of someone’s face, spending 30 to 60 minutes sitting 18 inches away from someone you may not know well exploring the contours of their face, their lips, gently writing on their eyelids is a bonding, trust building exchange.  That someone would let you do this, photograph them and create a public mural is tangible evidence of their conviction to their beliefs, to their words.  As James Baldwin said, they are willing to reveal the beloved to himself and with that revelation make freedom real.

klee + princess 1.jpg

 

klee + princess 2

Rey Cantil painting the words of Flagstaff activists onto their faces regarding the controversial practice of using reclaimed waste water to make artificial snow on a sacred mountain.

 

klee + princess

 

john, sam + step

 

ladies 1

ladies 2

ladies 3

ladies 4

The experiment in community building is ongoing.  I continue falling backwards believing someone will be there to catch me. And while I don’t want to be known as the guy who writes on people’s face, it is an effective tool for getting a heartfelt message out.  Thank you to the community for trusting me with your words and joining me in this adventure.

community, poetry, spoken word

“ain’t i a woman?”

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mahogany-browne

 

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t'ai-freedom-ford

 

In 1851 Kingston native Sojourner Truth electrified audiences at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, OH with an extemporaneous speech on the value of womanhood known as “Ain’t I a Woman?”  Having been invited to create a mural for the O + Festival in Kingston, New York my collaborator Jess X. Chen and I wanted to honor the historical contribution of Sojourner Truth to the women’s rights movement and her role as an humanitarian by asking three New York City based, African-American, female poets to share with us poems pertaining to African-American womanhood.  The three poets included Jennifer Falu; writer, poet and teacher T’ai Freedom Ford and writer, poet and director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Mahogany Browne. Sadly, due to time constraints only Mahogany Browne and T’ai Freedom Ford were included in the mural.

In celebrating these poets Jess + I chose to include verses of their poems as halos around their heads. Mahogany Browne’s halo is extracted from her poem “Black Girl Magic.”
They say you ain’t posed to be here
You ain’t posed to wear red lipstick
You ain’t posed to wear high heels
You ain’t posed to smile in public
You ain’t posed to smile no where, girl

You ain’t posed to be more than a girlfriend
You ain’t posed to get married
You ain’t posed to want no dream that big
You ain’t posed to dream at all
You ain’t posed to do nothing but carry babies
And carry weaves
And carry felons
And carry families
And carry confusion
And carry silence
And carry a nation — but never an opinion
You ain’t posed to have nothing to say
unless its a joke

Cause you ain’t posed to love yourself Black Girl
You ain’t posed to find nothing worth saving in all that brown
You ain’t posed to know that Nina Beyonce Tina Cecily Shonda Rhimes shine shine shine

Black Girl,
You ain’t posed to love your mind
You ain’t posed to love
You ain’t posed to be loved up on

You only posed to pose voodoo Chile’ vixen style
You posed to pop out babies & hide the stretch marks
You posed to be still
So still they think you statue
So still they think you a chalked outline
So still they keep thinking you stone
Until you look more Medusa than Viola Davis
Until you sound more Shenananay than Kerry Washington
Until you more side eye than Michelle Obama on a Tuesday

But You tell them you are more than a hot comb & a wash n set
You are kunta kente’s kin
You are a black Girl worth remembering

& You are a threat knowin yourself
Loving yourself
Loving your kin
Loving your children
you black girl magic
you black girl flyy
you black girl brilliance
you black girl wonder
you black girl shine
you black girl bloom
you black girl black girl
And you turning into a beautiful blk woman right before they eyes

T’ai Freedom Ford shared her poem “I Sell the Shadow to Sustain the Substance” which she dedicates to African-American conceptualist Glenn Ligon and to Sojourner Truth.  Verses of her poem were projected onto her and used in her halo.

“I Sell the Shadow to Sustain the Substance”

As a Black woman I am untitled – nameless.

My heart a faint glow of neon wire buzzing toward some shameless demise.

I stand against walls looking nonchalant.

Flashbulbs mistake me for celebrity or bored whore.

Same difference.

As Black woman I am installation art as negress.

My heart a black plastic bag ghosting streets.

What parts of me ain’t for sale as woman?

A sincere word of thanks goes out to Gaia, the Kingston O Positive Festival, Michael Pisacane, Andrew Erdos, Clara Darrason, Mahogany Browne, T’ai Freedom Ford, Jennifer Falu, Jess X. Chen and the good people of Kingston, NY.

mo

 

finished mural

 

jess + me

 

the poets, jess + i

with mahogany browne, jennifer falu, t’ai freedom ford and jess x. chen.

#peoplesclimatemarch, climate change, climate justice, jetsonorama

people’s climate march commemorative screen print

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people's-climate-march-(monica!-screenprint-3)

people's-climate-march-(monica!-screenprint-2)

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people's-climate-march-(monica!)

in anticipation of the world climate summit (this december in paris) you can show the painted desert project some love by getting a one color, hand pulled (by the good people at ocelot print shop in detroit) commemorative screen print on 19 x 25 archival paper.  they’re a limited edition of fifty, signed, stamped + numbered for $50.  if interested, hit me at jetsonorama@gmail.com.

peace.

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