Ishmael Adams
My original idea was much more broad in terms of subject matter wanted to do my midterm on. It was still the main subject baseline of freedom, but there wasn’t a great deal of depth to the overarching theme of the midterm. Thinking about the subject matter over a period of time, I originally planned to do something more relevant to today’s political climate in talking about the freedoms of the nation at large and how those freedoms are at risk. I disregarded the initial idea feeling that it was something so many people have already done and I wanted to do something a little different whilst also keeping in theme with the idea of freedom, so instead of taking from the present, I decided the past would be a more interesting avenue to explore.
In order to find sources to do research for the Intervention, I found a few sites that supported my statements on how Black activism and revolution is the cornerstone of modern activism and the blueprint for successful protests today. My first avenue for research laid with the Civil Rights movement, as it was the most famous and one of the most impactful movements in the nation featuring Black leadership. I looked at various articles and archival documents like The Civil Rights Movement: A Primary Set and the Latin Post’s article called Martin Luther King Jr. & Latino Civil Rights Movement to name two. I then looked to The Black Panther Party and how they inspired and found the Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium / University of Washington where they have a chapter on the Brown Berets taking direct inspiration from the Black Panther Party. For the NAACP, they inspired (MALDEF) Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the (NARF) Native American Rights Fund. All of which was influenced by Black activism and revolution.
In Kimberly Drew’s book, This Is What I Know About Art she uses a quote from famous Black author and historian, Carter G. Woodson, where he states, “If race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition... and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” I find a common reason why people are so ignorant, besides blatant misinformation, is lack of knowledge on history. The current administration has been pushing this agenda to silence historical black activists and their accomplishments of pushing activism forward. Once you take away that history, years, even centuries of knowledge and feats of great renown, you’re left with people who don’t know anything, and as a consequence of that lack of knowledge results in people being easily controlled by the people who do. Of which results in an absolute authority or dictator.
I felt instead of writing a regular essay or posting a blog, that I would use my artistic abilities instead, afterall this whole class is about the impact art makes through political commentary, I felt I should give it a shot. As Bell Hooks states in Dr. Maura Reilly's article What is Curatorial Activism, " “produce work that opposes structures of domination, that presents possibilities for a transformed future by willingly interrogating our own work on aesthetic or political grounds. This interrogation itself becomes an act of critical intervention, fundamentally fostering an attitude of vigilance rather than denial.” Being an illustration major and making a political painting in a class where we talked about political paintings just felt right and using my art to shine a bit of truth back into the world felt right, especially for No Kings Day.
PowerPoint
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YuOqG1JLpV6wU09adCpNMT7E79he0kchfiPmqYLblmg/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p
Sources
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