Microaggressions – Theda Sandiford

March 16, 2023March 4, 2023

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.

March 9, 2023March 4, 2023

Microaggression: Highlights

Im often asked what are the microaggressions I experience the most, so I made a video.

This video will play in the next iteration of Free Your Mind’s installation.

June 28, 2021June 5, 2021

Making Of: You Are So Articulate

My weaving, You Are So Articulate, is currently displayed at the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond at The Newark Museum of Art.

Each piece of yarn used to in this weaving is representative of a particular conversation where I was acknowledged for being able to express my thoughts and ideas. As you can see this conversation comes up quite a bit.

You Are So Articulate comes in many forms, including…

you speak so well… you are well read… you speak white… and even “that went better than I was expecting”, comment after I nail the presentation.

Telling someone they are well-spoken is a back handed compliment. It carries the connotation that, it is unusual for someone Black to be intelligent.

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

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021

Hiding In Plain Sight

Racial Gaslighting, hides in plain sight in everyday interactions. It subtly shifts dialog from a racist topic at hand onto the accuser – forcing me to question and re-assess my own response to racism, rather than the racism itself.

“You’re being overly dramatic.”
“Are you sure it was about race?”
“I’m sure he/she didn’t mean it like that.”

Intentional or not, these types of comments trigger a spiral of self-doubt and create a convenient way to avoid uncomfortable conversations about race.

The constant questioning, twisting and undermining of personal experience and what I know to be true – has had a compound negative affect upon me, manifesting in insomnia, anxiety and hefty amounts of emotional baggage. Through these works, I am exercising these demons.

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and the aesthetic armor for protection I have created to shield myself.

Visit the Virtual Gallery

April 14, 2021April 9, 2021

Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts

Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts uses recovered commercial fishing net, 10,000 zip ties and silk sari yarn to illuminate the impact of microaggressions.

The term, Death by a thousand cuts is derived from a form of Chinese torture known as lingchi, where a person is subjected to hundreds of small cuts until death occurs.

If you get one papercut, it is uncomfortable, but the wound eventually heals. Imagine getting multiple paper cuts on a daily basis.

Small cuts upon cuts upon cuts. This is what microaggressions feels like. You will not die from one paper cut, but the experience of multiple insults, both verbal, nonverbal, and/ visual underpins very real consequences for me… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of invisibility and powerlessness.