Category: Microagressions

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Microaggressions Sound Like

Let me know what you think of this audio that will accompany future installation of Free Your Mind?

Microaggressions are defined as subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — everyday interactions or behaviors that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial messages or assumptions toward historically marginalized groups.
 
The difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination, is that people who commit microaggressions are often unaware they are doing these things – and if you point it out to them, they say, “That wasn’t my intention, you are being too sensitive.” Which is yet another microaggression.
 
I often have the experience of people touching my hair without asking first, which makes me feel like a merchandise on display and I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve been complimented for being “articulate.” Which presumes that black people are not usually capable of competent intellectual conversation.
 
The weight of these daily interactions underpins very real consequences… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility. 
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You Are So Articulate

This Summer, my weaving, You Are So Articulate, will be at the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond hosted on site and virtually at The Newark Museum of Art from June 15th until August 22, 2021. 

In this weaving, each piece of yarn is representative of a conversation in 2020 where I was acknowledged for being able to express my thoughts and ideas. Being told I’m well-spoken is a back handed compliment and carries the connotation that, it is unusual for someone of my race to be intelligent or eloquent. 

The completed weaving is displayed on a DYI loom, as if, it is still a work in progress because some version of this conversation, continues still, till this very day.

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Emotional Baggage Carts

We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. Some of us carry shopping carts of pain and bitterness while some of us sport a tote bag. How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice, to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.

My Baggage Carts are vessels for unresolved emotional baggage related to racial trauma. Each recovered shopping cart is woven with polyurethane rope, solar rope lights, doggie poop bags, plastic bottle caps and zip ties.

Redistricting

March 2021, Bottle Caps, yellow 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

Heights Over Springfield

March 2021, Bottle Caps, green 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

I Can’t Breathe -CPAC Baggage Cart

February 2021, CPAC Tubing, solar rope lights, gold 550 paracord, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

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Virtual Solo Show at MoCADA

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and my aesthetic armor for protection.

The show will be on view in MoCADA’s virtual exhibition from May 3, 2021 to July 5, 2021.

Some key dates…

Virtual “Opening/Preview / Tour”: Thursday, April 29, 2021 from 7-9PM

Virtual Artist Talk: Thursday, May 27, 2021 from 7-9PM

Workshop: Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 3-5PM

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Baggage Cart Statement

We all carry emotional baggage Naturally; these manifests differently for each of us. Some of us carry suitcases of pain and bitterness while some of us just have a backpack. As an empath, I carry a lifetime of disappointments and racial traumas.

Being alive means having the capacity to carry past experiences and learn from them. But there’s a point when this baggage becomes too much.  Carrying too much emotional baggage can literally stop us from being open to new experiences, intimacy and growth.

How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.

My baggage carts are designed as a vessel for racial and class traumas. My baggage carts serve…

  • to separate myself from these experiences.
  • to grant access to grace.
  • to create a new possibility for myself, free from the constraints of the past.
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Microaggressions

Microaggressions are defined as subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — everyday interactions or behaviors that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial messages or assumptions toward historically marginalized groups.

The difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination, is that people who commit microaggressions are often unaware they are doing these things – and if you point it out to them, they say, “That wasn’t my intention, you are being too sensitive.” Which is yet another microaggression.

I often have the experience of people touching my hair without asking first, which makes me feel like a merchandise on display. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve been complimented for being “articulate.” Which presumes that black people are not usually capable of competent intellectual conversation.

The weight of these daily interactions underpins very real consequences… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of powerlessness and invisibility.

Created using a combination of free form weaving, knotting and wrapping techniques, I have frozen these moments with, zip ties, ribbon, yarn, paracord, cotton rope, beading and recycled fishing nets to create protective armor.