February thru March 2006Black Reparations Now!
African American Artists on Land, Freedom & DemocracTwenty African American artists offer their visual interpretations on the critical issue of Reparations—an increasingly popular demand to begin to address the historic wrongs resulting from the slave trade and the disfranchisement and disempowerment of successive generations of Black people in America. The demand for Black Reparations points to the very soul of American history and racism.
With mixed media works solicited from mostly local emerging artists and a number of the more established, a broad range of visual as well as politcal interpretations emerge, reflecting disparate perspectives attempting to define the essence of a complex cultural issue. Emory Douglas, David Bradford, Duane Deterville and others go straight to the source—slavery and America’s home-grown version of apartheid. Kenyan painter Githinji Mbire views the issue as one impacting on the whole African diaspora, spreading African populations throughout the world. Ex-Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha contributes portraits of political prisoners to acknowledge the continuum of a multi-generational freedom struggle. New York artist Zulu Williams connects Black cultural expression with a history of brutal oppression and resistance. And the insightful Hank Willis Thomas makes an incisive statement of the imposition of twisted contemporary values. One may ask what any of the pieces have to do with the issue of Reparations, popularly thought of as monetary compensation to individuals and communities. But this exhibit hopes to remind viewers that history is not simply a summation of the past which requires redress, but an active work in progress which impacts on every aspect of our lives.
