For my midterm intervention I showed two pieces of art made by Hank Willis Thomas to three young men who I play basketball with. They are three college students, and one of them plays basketball at a collegiate level at Union Community College (UCC). I showed his art and asked for their interpretations of it as well as giving my feedback on the art. It was a small gesture that I hope can spread the word of art activism. Hank Willis Thomas is an artist who has a great message, and he attacks big brands like Nike, ironically two of the young men had on Nike hoodies. The first image that I showed them was his art piece Basketball and Chain, it shows a pair of Nike shoes chained to a basketball, this made the young men think about how this can connect to issues and society and how the image is deeper than basketball. The second art piece I showed was Branding Black Identity, and this image had different answers from all three of them, I feel like the image caught them off guard, but it gave them a gentle reminder about society and big corporations. After completing a previous blog assignment, I've gravitated to Thomas' art, since I'm a big basketball fan, and I'm extremely aware of how evil these big corporations can be. Nike has done some shady things like cut ties with Kyrie Irving for speaking his mind and even trying to exploit Micheal Jordan early in his career. These brands don't look at these athletes as humans, instead they view them as financial gain and use them strictly for profit. There was also a bad state in the NBA where athletes were told to "shut up and dribble" when they stated their political opinions, one of those athletes were Lebron James, Nike's biggest athlete at the time. When this happened, Nike didn't speak on Lebron's behalf, and he went through these issues alone. This is why it's now a trend for athletes to make their own shoe brand, because Nike doesn't show loyalty or support on the personal level, it's only support when money is involved. Kyrie Irving changed his sneaker brand, and he has beautiful Native American art on his sneakers, and this quote explains him perfectly, "At first glance these aims seem at odds with one another. Activism moves the material world, while Art moves the heart, body and soul. In fact, however, they are complimentary."(Why Artistic Activism). Both are complimentary and art can make the activism more effective. There are also athletes like Lebron James who are still with Nike, but they haven't switched, but the switch will come very soon. Lebron had a traumatic life, and he uses his success to speak on his past, like Kimberly Drew, she has a power quote where she states, "In my life, I have made a point of telling stories of triumph. I have had to fight so many battles to succeed that I want to maintain an agency with how my story is told."-Drew, Page 28. Just like Kimberly Drew Lebron has a story that contains battles he's fought. He was from a low-income community in Akron, Ohio but with hard work he got out of it. All of these athletes have stories, and big brands like Nike should never silence them. Below the text there will be my google slideshow with videos of the art.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FJ-5qbN43kr6biROuNettLd70RAeWJFc7ZMOIPXhaQ4/edit?usp=sharing
Refrences
WHY ARTISTIC ACTIVISM? | Center for Artistic Activism
This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew
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