Activism and History Writing Assignment

Youklendy Calderon

Professor Cacoilo

Art 263

21 November 2018

Activsim and History Writing Assignment: Three Artists from the "Persistence of History" Exhibit and how they Relate to my Project

In the NJCU "Persistence of History" gallery, several activist art portraits, collages, and sculptures are displayed. Among the most notable pieces are Michael Oatman's F(armed), Debra Priestly's Mattoon 5, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's Trade Canoe: The Dark Side. Although the three projects are not related to the natural hair movement, their reference to art and political issues of the past and present capture the art activism, historical themes, and sociopolitical critique of Afroposito. By discussing the aforementioned works and referencing the books Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-First Century by Nato Thompson and The Intervetionsists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life by Nato Thompson and Gregory Shollete, the projects' and Afroposito's critique of culture and society will become evident.

Michael Oatman

Oatman's project, F(armed) (2016), is a collage displayed in a custom-made frame that alludes to mountains. It portrays a battle between traditional farmers and large corporations, which have overshadowed traditional farms with their mass food production. As farmers work by hand planting seeds with their horses and tractors, large corporations begin to stamp their brand names on the farmers' territories. In the distance, the Land O'Lakes logo is blown up by tractors. The armed farmers, explosions, and farm are used to create the project's title, which is a contraction of the words 'farmed' and 'armed.'

Michael Oatman F(armed) 2016

The entire collage is quite ironic, especially with the inclusion of the Land O'Lakes logo. American farmers' land originally belonged to Native Americans, who respected Earth and used resources wisely and only when necessary. Unfortunately, European colonists took over the natives' land, wasted many of the land's resources--including animals--and used African slaves to cultivate and harvest the land. The collages' scene seamlessly applies to the past by changing the main famer holding the lettuce bag to a Native American and exchanging the Land O'Lakes logo for a colonist or plantation owner. In modern day, the 'descendants' of the plantation owners and European colonists are being forced off 'their' stolen land by their modern 'bullies': corporations. The use of a Native American woman as the representative for the aforementioned dairy company is, in a sense, a false retribution for the murder and abuse of uncountable natives. While small farmers fight for the land and desire to blow up their large-scale competitors, they continue to lose productivity and sales battles. The Natives are seeing their abusers lose their stolen land without the benefit of returning to what is rightfully their property, hence the false retribution. Overall, Oatman's collage demonstrates the historic battle for American land and the unscrupulous means that have been used to obtain the coveted territory. Although the scene is open to interpretation, he covers the scene with familiar images to portray the battle between farmers and corporations, while leaving sufficient ambiguity for audience interpretation. Regardless of one's sympathy or lack there of for the farmers in the collage, Nato Thompson leaves one thing clear: "In our present economic system, where making culture and making money are deeply intertwined, each of us participates in the capitalist system, no matter how much we might wish to think otherwise" (Seeing Power 2). Even the farmers, who are against the corporations, depend on them for the production of their farming tools, and regular citizens, who might be against mass food production, usually purchase fruits and vegetables from large corporations because they are generally cheaper. The existence of this project in a capitalist system is enabled by its lack of words and visual suggestion. Perhaps if the collage contained specific information, it would be censored, especially with large food corporations' defence of their interests on a global scale despite national critique of their environmental food prints and inappropriate treatment of overseas employees. Corporations' disregard of small farmers' rights and the health risks associated with their mass food production is indirectly related to the natural hair movement. With the introduction of slavery in the Americas, colonists categorized textured hair as 'nappy' as a racial slur in reference to the nap or fuzzy part of cotton plants. Overtime, people of color, especially women, were taught to hate their hair and their culture--as expressed through braids, beads, and other traditional styles--was stolen by the colonial mentality. This lead the sales of flat irons, blowers, and permanent chemical hair relaxers to thrive. Now that many people of color are returning to their roots, pun intended, the corporations that thrived on the oppression of people of color are fighting the natural hair movement by attempting to create divisions among naturals with the promotion of certain hair textures as more beautiful than others. Nonetheless, the natural hair movement has managed to ward off the majority of corporate interventions by spreading racial/ethnic awareness. The subsequent growth of minority-owned companies has counteracted the interventions by specifically producing products for natural  hair.

Debra Priestly

Priestly's Matton 5 (2002) is a collection of preserve jars on two large canvases that individually portray photos of colored people. Descriptions of the each individual's history is not provided, allowing Priestly to engage her audience through verbal storytelling.

Priestly's Jars

The purpose of her project is to preserve the history of African Americans through everyday objects and rituals, with an emphasis on using traditions as references to one's past. The lack of words and portrayal of a population traditionally ignored by society demonstrates the social disregard for colored people's voices. Because of society's indifference towards traditionally racial minorities, Priestly has presented a way to preserve the neglected parts of history through storytelling. Despite the power of association in her collection, the lack of words blurs the line between art and activism. To some members of her audience, her collection might simply be a work of art while others might sense her sociopolitical critique of the lack of praise towards African Americans in American history. Like Deller, an activist artist discussed in Thompson's Seeing Power, Priestley's project "create[s] a more open filed in which people [can] talk; it [i]s both a provocation and an invitation" (32). The lack of words and exclusion of multiple portraits allows the collection to exists in the political structure it critiques by providing a space for open dialogue that subtly gives power to African Americans. Her project is similar to the role of hair braiding among women of African descent. Hair braiding was and continues to be used as a means to store information--cornrows were used as plantation maps to help slaves escape and store stolen seeds--display culture, continue traditions, and for fashion-purposes. Like the jars, natural hair relays the history of Black cultures and creates an opportunity to discuss the past.

Debra Priestly's Matton 5 (2002)

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Smith's Trade Canoe: The Dark Side (2017-2018), portrays the government's responsibility in the destruction of the native people and trade's abuse of animals, specially buffalo, during the European invasion of the Americas. An army officer and native warrior sit on opposite sides of the canoe, separated by a mountain of bones.

European Army Officer and Mountain of Bones

Native Warrior and Mountain of Bones

The involvement of both men in the war and the bones capture the oppression and mass murder of the native people at the hands of colonists. The painting is completed with the supernatural judgement of the situation by a solar eclipse, which casts shadows over the face of the army officer and a rainbow over the face of the warrior.

The Supernatural Judgement: A  Solar Eclipse Casts Shadow over
Army Officer and a Rainbow over the Native Warrior

Although the painting does not include words, its historical reference critiques the political and economic abuse of Native Americans. Similar to the industrial revolution's effects on American history, the removal of Native Americans from their land drastically changed Natives' lives. Prior to the revolution, Natives and colonists were self-sufficient and lived by using the land's resources; however, the revolution's emphasis on mass production to increase rich Europeans' profits impacted "the workday, the salary, and the basic relationship of worker and employer...rapidly reshaping daily life" (Seeing Power 4). The natives, who employed themselves and did not use money in European sense, suddenly became dependant on Europeans for employment by trading their goods for less than their worth, unintentionally losing their land and sustenance. Likewise, colonists also lost 'their' land by selling their farms to work in factories and coal mines at unfair wages. Smith takes advantage of the injustice towards Native Americans by making the sun a judge over an army officer and native warrior. Although Smith portrays the officer as the guilty party, she/he does not tell his/her audience how to react. Rather, Smith echoes the Critical Art Ensemble's technique of "us[ing] any media that will engage a particular socio-political context in order to create molecular interventions and semiotic shocks that contribute to the negation of the rising intensity of authoritarian culture" (Interventionists 83). By summarizing history in one image, Smith critiques history and the government's abuse of power in current efforts to invade 'Indian territory,' while encouraging its audience to react. Thus, the work blurs the line between art and activism. The simple yet intense portrayal of several wars between cultures and the negative effects of colonialism, are also discussed by the natural hair movement, which teaches people of color to appreciate their lost culture and textured hair despite general discouragement from people of European descent.

Conclusion

Overall, the aforementioned projects and Afroposito critique culture and society by portraying social injustice by those in power. Although the projects subtly express their disapproval of socio-political abuse, their critique is important in raising awareness about minority groups and creating a dialogue  within the structures that they critique. In likewise manner, Afroposito raises awareness about natural hair discrimination and the natural hair movement and hair care through handlettered pieces, photos, polls, and short videos. Despite the semester and aforementioned artists' projects involvement in art activism, they do not rely on social and cultural capital to obtain the media's attention as traditional political activism does with picket signs and protests. Instead, the projects blur the lines between art and activism to exist within the structures they critique and raise awareness.

Works Cited

Thompson, Nato. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-first Century. Melville House. Kindle Edition. 2015.
Thompson, Nato, and Sholette, Gregory. The Interventionists: User's Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life. MASS MoCA Publications. Retrieved on November  21, 2018 from file:///C:/Users/zorai/Desktop/Interventionists_03_14_041.pdf.