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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
The Department of African American Studies celebrated its renaming to Black Studies in a Friday symposium titled “Black to Front.”
In April 2008, the department voted unanimously to change its name. According to the formal name change proposal, the new title aims to better reflect “the breadth of its scholarship and teaching” by expanding beyond U.S.-centric boundaries. The formal change will occur in the next few months, pending final approval by Northwestern’s Board of Trustees.
“Black Studies is inclusivity and community,” said SESP freshman Noelle Robinson, who served as an emcee during Friday’s event. “I am Black, African American and Jamaican American. It validates all of our Black histories and ancestors, not only the ones to live in this country.”
The event featured two keynote speakers, student creatives, a faculty roundtable and a graduate student panel. Speakers and artists also selected Black music interludes to play ahead of their discussions and performances, ranging from Thundercat’s “Them Changes” to Little Simz’s “Point and Kill.”
Political science, sociology and African American Studies Prof. Barnor Hesse, who also served as an emcee, said Black music is part of Black history and studies. He encouraged attendees to “to work through, think through and feel through” the art in the symposium.
Hesse also discussed the relationships between Black studies and the world. While many disciplines exclude or refrain from including Black experiences, ideas and perspectives, Black studies prioritizes these experiences. In turn, Hesse said it “cannot avoid” critically examining Western epistemology, instead of assuming it is the standard.
“Black Studies doesn’t just see democracy. It sees democracy and white supremacy. The only democracy we’ve ever known in Western society is a white democracy,” Hesse said. “Black Studies doesn’t just see Western civilization. It sees as the conditions of Western civilization, Western barbarism. So you see, with that angle of vision, how the world seems to tilt almost on its axis.”
Trinity College Prof. Davarian Baldwin, who teaches American studies and serves as founding director of the Smart Cities Research Lab, was the first keynote speaker. In his talk, “Black Studies and Thoughts on an Abolitionist University,” Baldwin pointed toward the relationship between Black Studies, African American Studies and the education debate in the U.S.
Baldwin argued while the ongoing debate about controlling curricula in higher education revolves around certain controversial topics like AP African American Studies, arguments center on censoring ideas that Black Studies promotes.
“Higher education was never designed to serve at the sight of democratic possibilities, but actually the symbol of exclusion and privilege of inheritance,” he said. “Black Studies always understood the broader campus complex as a site of struggle for liberatory possibility … they understood that the higher education institute — the campus — was the battleground for global hegemony.”
Black studies originated at the intersection between the campus and the broader community, Baldwin said. For example, in 1968, Columbia University students in the Black Panther Party organized a movement known as Gym Crow, which criticized the potential construction of a university gym in nearby Morningside Park.
The gym would have created a physical barrier between the Harlem neighborhood and the campus, but he said students and residents occupied the administration buildings to put a stop to its construction.
Modern-day diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — which center on diversifying curricula, faculty and students — have used diversity to “meet administration and corporate needs of brand management,” Baldwin said, moving away from the intentions of Black Studies.
Baldwin said he recommends coupling DEI with the principles of abolition, reparations, investment and security, known as ARIS.
“(ARIS) is built on the 1960s liberation moment to see the campus as a site for not just the production of knowledge, but a core fulcrum and today’s knowledge economy,” Baldwin said. “(Black Studies) was directly engaging the role that higher education was playing within the political economy and American empire.”
A roundtable with history and African American Studies Prof. Sherwin Bryant, religious studies Prof. KB Dennis Meade, Communication and African American Studies Prof. Dotun Ayobade and African American Studies Prof. Kennetta Perry then discussed the question: “What is the Black in Black studies?”
The panelists then explored the topic by examining how Black Studies functions across the world.
Ayobade said many Africans would not call themselves Black, but many trends that have started in Africa were inspired by Black Power movements challenging colonialism worldwide. For instance, in the 1970s many Nigerian artists smoked marijuana, practiced nudity and made music as part of a global movement of Black anti-colonial resistance, he said.
Ayobade added scholars often do not address the modern complexities of Africa in their studies.
“Africa tends to show up as a kind of historic, ancestral space of origin, when in fact, Africans continually engage with the legacies of empire colonialism,” Ayobade said.
Following the panel, Communication freshman Cydney Hope Brown shared her poetry. Through her work, she discussed her experiences with grief and pride. Over the summer, Brown said she plans to write a series of poems from the vantage point of famous Black women in history to inspire young Black girls.
She then recited a poem entitled “Black Girl,” which she said depicts her refusal to let other peoples’ assumptions control her worldview. Self-love is an active choice, Brown said, and is important to her lifestyle.
Culture and film critic Zeba Blay, who served as the second keynote speaker at Friday’s event, gave a talk titled, “What it Means to be Black and Carefree in an Unfree World.” Her speech centered freedom, which she said requires the unpacking of fear.
Being a “fat, dark-skinned, immigrant, queer, neurodivergent Black woman” comes with inherited traumas, she said. Though she experiences fear, Blay said, she has resonated with radical Black artists like Nina Simone, who have created “portals to dream.”
“I exist in a world that consistently devalues people like me, a world that simultaneously ignores and actively perpetuates the violences, both physical and spiritual, against folks who look and live like me,” Blay said. “The world has always been chaotic, dangerous (and) precarious for Black folk.”
Blay wrote a 2021 collection of essays titled “Carefree Black Girls,” which paints a portrait of Black women in pop culture as a way to explore representation, rest and liberation. In 2013, she was the first to use #CarefreeBlackGirl on Twitter after coming across a video of 20th-century Black movie star and dancer Josephine Baker dancing.
Blay said she was enthralled by Baker’s movements, which exuded freedom, and wondered how she could channel similar energy into her own life. Though Blay wrote about carefreeness and celebration, she felt trapped and unfree — a tension Blay wanted to explore in her own writing.
Carefreeness can be a tool to fight for freedom, but Blay said defining freedom is an “elusive task.” The U.S. uses freedom as a branding tool intertwined with a sense of entitlement and violence, she added.
Blay said she aimed to understand how to claim carefreeness as less of a performative gesture on social media, but rather as a “lived, embodied experience.” Freedom encompasses the political, social and economic dimensions of Black life, she said, while carefreeness centers the spiritual dimension. Blay added freedom and carefreeness need each other to survive.
“Freedom requires sober dedication. It requires work,” Blay said. “Being carefree entails experiencing ease, joy, lightness and liberation, despite the overwhelming fear.”
Jay Dugar contributed reporting.
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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, and Fleetwood Mac turn out to be among his favourite artists.
The Pop and Politics podcast has just launched, and Mr Afolami was the MP to feature in its first episode.
During the episode, Hitchin and Harpenden’s MP talked about growing up listening to African-American artists such as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, with the latter being “a hero” in his family’s house.
While he said that he’s “never really been into Afrobeats”, Mr Afolami did out himself as a big hip-hop fan.
“I really find the American hip-hop exceptionally good. I find these guys so talented … hip-hop has been under-appreciated in British culture for its lyrical and intellectual and historical and cultural brilliance, and excitement, and dynamism, and that’s why I love it.”
He pointed to the personal stories of top hip-hop artists as part of the reason for his enjoyment of the genre.
Mr Afolami pointed to some of the early artists, talking about “how they were shut out of the mainstream music industry, and how that forced them to create their own vehicles that actually has made them a hell of a lot richer than the typical singers or white artists that were taken up by the mainstream at the time”.
READ MORE: ‘Finally retired’ – Comet founder and long-time servant of Hitchin dies, aged 86
The MP said that his own background as a black person who went to Eton and worked in the City was “a bit scrambling for people”, with half thinking “you must be listening to hip-hop in Croydon” and another half thinking “you listen to classical music”.
He criticised the perception that different types of music are for people from different backgrounds.
“I think [that] is deeply insulting but also alienating for a young black kid in Croydon who really likes listening to Bach and Beethoven, and thinks nobody is going to take him seriously because he’s meant to be listening to something else.”
Mr Afolami did say that he thought his tastes were “depressingly mainstream”, before revealing his admiration for Taylor Swift.
“What I love about Taylor Swift … is how talented she is, just the insane talent that she demonstrates, I think, is phenomenal.
“As a pop artist, her core pop music, her ability to write a really good pop song – there are very few people who reach her level on a consistent basis.”
However, Swift isn’t Mr Afolami’s favourite artist. That title goes to Jay-Z, with his Watch the Throne album in collaboration with Kanye West being singled out as a particular highlight.
Mr Afolami said that watching them perform songs from the album live at the O2 Arena in London was “brilliant”.
You can listen to the podcast in full on Spotify.
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
The space for Poetry on Main may seem sparse for now, but the owner’s dreams of what it will become are limitless.
As owner Michaëlle Martial, a Haitian poet, imagines it: The new space in an apartment building at 702 S. Main in Salt Lake City will become a hub of creativity and community — a gathering place for everyone, but especially Black women artists and immigrants like herself.
“The idea has started to form in my mind, I want to say, since 2013,” Martial said. “My kids and I drew up a plan one day of a space where I can share my poetry and also invite other local poets and artists who share the space to share their work.”
Martial arrived in Utah in 2000, and has been sharing her poetry in the Salt Lake area since 2012. She had been working a lot with other poets in the community, but realized there was a lack of a physical space where they could all gather regularly. (She registered her LLC, Caribbean Nightingale, in 2020.)
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main co-owner Michaelle Martial holds a photo of her mother Gladys on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Poetry on Main’s store Gladys Boutiques offers a small selection of books by Black authors and tasteful collections of handmade goods by local artisans, inspired by the life of Martial’s mother. A trained fashion designer and seamstress, chef and entrepreneur, Gladys Martial made consistent efforts to empower women in her community in Haiti and fuels creative endeavors in her daughter.
With her three, soon to be four, collections of poetry, it’s an understatement to say that words mean a lot to Martial.
“I wanted the word ‘poetry’ to show in the space, to emphasize it because poetry’s not dead,” Martial said. “We don’t realize how important and influential the word or words are around people.”
Martial speaks from experience, as a survivor of domestic violence. “[I] was mostly affected through psychological and emotional abuse,” she said, “So I know the power of words.”
The space is scheduled to have its official ribbon cutting sometime in June, with the Utah Black Chamber. Even before that, the storefront is filled with tokens of love, legacy and culture.
Photos of Martial’s mother, Gladys, who is a fashion designer. A letter board sign on a shelf in the kitchen reads “You belong here,” and sits next to a Haitian spice grinder Gladys gave Martial when she left for college. The wall decor includes a lime-green plate with a map of the departments and states of Haiti. On a table sits a black water bottle, designed by Martial, with the motto, “Resilience is my secret power.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main’s Wednesday, May 10, 2023, A Rwandan basket and doll and other African works of art will be for sale at the cafe. Poetry on Main is an non-profit Afro-Caribbean artisan gift shop and poetry lounge.
Martial said she plans to add bookshelves, where she will highlight other Afro-Caribbean authors, with an emphasis on local authors. The store has room for Afro-Caribbean accessories for sale, such as earrings and other handmade goods. Eventually, Martial plans to set up a stage for slam poetry and open-mic performances.
Martial said she has three programs in mind already: “Relaxation Through Verse”, a poetry salon that will be offered the second Saturday of every month; “Cupcakes for Breakfast,” a book-signing event that will offer sweet treats; and a platform for Utah writers of African descent.
Another idea in the works is “Dinner and a Show,” which Martial is devising with Yvonne Nsabimana, from the nonprofit Ngoma Y’Africa cultural center. Nsabimana is from Rwanda, by way of Belgium, and first came to Utah in 2005.
The pair originally came up with the idea of “Taste the Culture,” a venture where several African American and Black women would come together to share cultural food, during the NBA All-Star Weekend in February. (Instead, they ended up losing thousands of dollars.)
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main co-owner Michaelle Martial points to the department or state where the native Haitian was born on a decorative dish at the cafe on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Poetry on Main is an non-profit Afro-Caribbean artisan gift shop and poetry lounge.
In some ways, Poetry on Main will be a chance at redemption for some of the vendors affected from the failed All-Star Bazaar, Martial said. Many of the vendors will sell their goods at Poetry on Main, such as Karicka Soul, which sells hair oils.
The concept, Msabimana said, is to foster “this idea of looking for women chefs and entrepreneurs — women wanting to move forward their lives and provide for themselves and their families.”
The menu for “Dinner and a Show” includes beignets, Haitian pikliz, jollof rice with chicken and more.
The women also are playing around with the idea of having a permanent food truck open outside the Poetry on Main space.
Marital and Nsabimana said they plan to give back to community resources in Utah that have helped them over the years. A portion of all of the proceeds made at the poetry salon will be donated to local women shelters.
As a mother — two of her four children were born in Utah — and a domestic violence survivor, Martial said, “I’ve utilized resources in the community, whether it’s therapy for me, my children or group therapy.” She referenced the YWCA as a great resource.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main co-owner Michaelle Martial’s poetry books; Of Love & Lust: A Caribbean Woman’s Magic!, The Nightingale’s New Song: A Black Woman’s Poetic Notes and The Nightingale Woman’s Prayers: Poems on Faith and Healing on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Poetry on Main is an non-profit Afro-Caribbean artisan gift shop and poetry lounge.
“I may be many things, but ungrateful is not one of them,” Martial said, with a laugh. “Going around in those spaces, I found out that I was not alone. Those organizations need support. … We have an opportunity to make a difference.”
Nsabimana added that “community thrives because of nonprofit organizations.”
Nsabimana said she also has been on the receiving end of aid in Utah. Nsabimana has been a refugee twice in her life — first from Rwanda, and second when she and her husband fled from Hurricane Katrina to Utah.
She said the most powerful service she’s ever seen in her life happened when they came to Utah. “People in the community who didn’t know us were willing to give either a sheet for the bed, help pay rent, or different things. There’s nowhere else I’ve ever seen this than Utah,” she said.
At times, Nsabimana said, Utah isn’t perfect — but it is welcoming, and the people here have a good heart.
“It’s the least we can do if we’re able to give back,” she said.
Poetry on Main is dedicated to one of Martial’s mentors: Poet, painter and musician Benjamin Cabey, a resident of Salt Lake City and a pioneer in uplifting Black artists in Utah. He coached Martial on how to organize events and perform her poetry, she said. He also encouraged her, she said, to let her real self show to the world.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main co-owner Michaelle Martial, pictured in their 702 Main store kitchen on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 will offer Afro-Caribbean gifts, food, poetry and music this summer.
For Nsabimana, having a space for other entrepreneurs and immigrants to get advice feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air. Having a space to belong makes things feel more concrete, more recognizable, she said.
“This is actually the first space ever open to Afro-Caribbean women in Salt Lake City, in Utah in general,” she said. “We know a lot of these women because we’ve been here for a while.”
Black and African women, Nsabimana said, are very strong. It’s a product of their cultures.
“We both have very strong mothers,” she said, “and we believe a lot of women are that way, especially in our community. … It’s a culture that doesn’t give you mercy. You have to stay on top of things, do what you have to do, you feed your family, you take care of your husbands [and] you are an entrepreneur at the same time.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Poetry on Main co-owner Yvonne Nsabimana, pictured in the 702 Main store kitchen on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 will offer Afro-Caribbean gifts, food, poetry and music this summer.
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Hurvin Anderson lives and works in the middle of nowhere. His wife, Alice (also his studio manager), has to pick me up from the station because taxis can never find the place. Their Cambridgeshire home, which they share with their three young children, is the kind that “home inspiration” Instagram accounts would eat up. It has a spiral staircase, expansive windows looking out on to endless greenery and a room that is an actual circle. Next door to the large property is Anderson’s equally impressive purpose-built studio on land where an old farm building once sat. “It’s just somewhere to work,” Anderson says in a rather humble manner for an artist once described by the Turner prize judges (he was nominated in 2017) as “an outstanding British painter whose art speaks to our current political moment with questions about identity and belonging”. Anderson used to have a studio in south London but the travelling back and forth became too time-consuming. Still, he has a love-hate relationship with the new one. “It’s a bit too close to home,” he says. “But I’m able to work in longer spells. It was hard getting back from London. It became impractical with the kids.”
We sit in the bright airy studio surrounded by objects – plants, sketches of figures, a map of Jamaica, mirrors, posters and paintings in progress. Anderson talks slowly and in a way that reads as nervous, but he’s warm and smiley and thinks carefully about his responses. He is wearing jeans and a dark blue hoodie and, at 58, has the face of someone much younger; a greying beard and are the only signs of his age. He’s been making art for 25 years and has exhibited all over the world, including, in recent years, in two major British group shows: Tate Britain’s Life Between Islands and the touring exhibition British Art Show 9. Just last week he was named a Royal Academician and now, he’s getting ready for his own exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield entitled Salon Paintings. On show will be work from his best known series depicting barbershops, a selection of his drawings and more experimental work, plus a room curated by Anderson of work by British painters including Michael Andrews, Sonia Boyce and Denzil Forrester.
So what is the fascination with barbershops? Anderson began painting them in 2007 after his father took him to a Jamaican barbershop in a converted attic in Birmingham. “When I first saw the space, it was actually more about the mirrors. I walked in. It was quite still. Guys were waiting. People were cutting hair. Then you’d turn around 90 degrees and there’s two mirrors behind you. It’s an odd atmosphere to work in. To have so much reflection. To see yourself constantly.” He took photographs of the salon and used them as a basis for his colourful, semi-abstract works, featuring, variously, figures, barber’s chairs, bottles, machines, and walls of mirrors and posters.
The imagery found on barbershop walls fascinated him too. “Hairstyles, of course, but also football teams, newspaper articles. It gave another twist somehow.
“A lot has been said about the conversations that go on in barbershops,” he adds, and incorporating the posters “was a way of bringing these conversations into the paintings.” The colours and aesthetic of the barbershops, he tells me, were a way for those from the Caribbean to feel more at home in England. Talking about his actual childhood home, he says, “There’s a photograph of [the interior of] our house and it’s just wood. My dad had gotten this wooden wallpaper. I never knew why until I went to Jamaica and saw some of the places that people lived in. I thought: ‘Oh. It’s a way of bringing some of that back here.’”
Anderson was born in Handsworth, an inner-city area in Birmingham, in 1965. His mother was a seamstress, his father a welder, and they had migrated to the UK from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation. Hurvin was the youngest of eight children and the only one to be born in England. His family were supportive of his creativity. His mother put his drawings up around the house. “They didn’t say no,” he says. “I knew other people around who were creative, so it wasn’t frowned upon.” After school he didn’t pursue an art career straight away, trying his hand at other things first. One of them was setting up a recording studio but, he reflects, “when something isn’t for you, the routes never seem open to you”; another was doing graphic design projects and painting murals around Birmingham with a couple of friends on the Enterprise Allowance scheme (a Margaret Thatcher initiative that gave £40 a week (equivalent to earnings of about £150 a week today) to unemployed people to set up their own business).
When that didn’t work out he spent a year working as a surveyor, measuring up premises and calculating their property tax, but he was starting to think about doing an art foundation course. He was 25 by the time he enrolled at Birmingham Polytechnic. “I had a friend called Brian and we were doing an illustration course. He said to me: ‘I think you’re more of a fine artist than an illustrator.’” That was the trigger for Anderson, who went on to study at the Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal College of Art.
As well as the barbershop paintings, Anderson is known for his vibrant landscape works. These rapturous scenes of greens and blues draw on an idea of the Caribbean that is part reality, part imagination. “You heard so much about these places when you were growing up. You wanted to experience it. You oddly feel like you know it more than you know Britain,” he says. “I’m always nervous about the word identity. I try not to use it, but I’m fascinated with owning somewhere, or feeling like somewhere is yours. I live in the countryside but have not yet found a way to be drawn into the landscape here. Whereas when I go to Jamaica or the Caribbean, there’s a bit of me that wants to bring it back.” It’s partly the distance that keeps Anderson returning to the Caribbean in his work. “When it’s further away, it’s more interesting. There’s a romance to it.”
In 2021, Anderson exhibited an arresting new series depicting an abandoned hotel complex in Jamaica at Thomas Dane Gallery in London. The paintings show geometric concrete structures overwhelmed by forestation. His preoccupation with these ruined landscapes began in 2017 when he and his wife and young children were on a beach in Jamaica “releasing turtles” and suddenly noticed some abandoned buildings. “We walked to this beach that was slightly inhospitable. You could hear the rushing of the sea against the hills and the shear of the rock. We walked along and saw these disused hotels.” The buildings were overgrown with greenery but further on, they could see that new hotels were also being built. “They didn’t even bother to knock the old ones down. They just left them there.”
These deserted hotels represent the fallacy of paradise and speak to the exoticism and tourism that plagues Jamaica. “When I was very young, I would stay with my sister. But when people go back [to Jamaica] now, they don’t stay with family. They go to resorts. It does feel like a shift.” Still, he found a certain beauty in these abandoned sites. “I was interested in that clash between nature and the modern. All of these concrete structures, and then nature taking it back.” There was a sense, he says, of, “‘You can do what you like for now, but we’ll take it all back.’”
Looking at Anderson’s work, it’s clear that he wants to evoke feelings rather than convey facts. “For me, there was always something false about the photorealistic,” he says. “Each time [I paint], I want to acknowledge to the viewer that this is made up. There is truth in there, but also elements of fiction.” When it comes to his materials and techniques, Anderson typically starts with acrylic and then works on top with oil. “I enjoy the spontaneity of acrylics. They dry quickly. You can move quickly. I want that speed. You want to be able to play a little and move things around. But you can find yourself getting too involved in the painting, because you can do so much. Oils are a different creature,” he says. “I see why historically, it’s the thing to conquer. You have to be much more sure.”
Anderson’s career is a working-class success story; his achievements a feat many would have deemed impossible. I ask if he’s considered “special” in his family and he rejects the notion immediately. “No. I think everyone is a success in their own right,” he says, referring to his siblings. Many of them are now retired, but one works as a carpenter, another in nursing, and another is a chef in a school. He says his success is also partly down to the era when he started out. Higher university fees and higher living costs are only some of the deterrents stopping young people from pursuing a career in art today. I bring up Structurally F–cked, a report published by Industria and a-n (the Artists Information Company) in March, which calculated that artists who responded to their survey and had been contracted to deliver projects by publicly funded galleries in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland for a fixed sum were being paid a median income of just £2.60 per hour. “I wonder, if I was coming through now – would I have taken that leap?” says Anderson. “Your rent might have been expensive [back then], but maybe travel was cheap. You would work part-time and you were able to cover [your outgoings]. You weren’t able to save but you could make a living, whereas now, I’m not sure if that holds.”
Arguably, things are slowly changing in terms of race and representation in the art world. Lubaina Himid won the Turner prize in 2017, the year Anderson was also nominated; and Sonia Boyce represented the UK at the Venice Biennale in 2022. But the landscape was very white even just 10 years ago. “Then, you’d look around and see that the music industry was there for Black people as a way to get through. In terms of fine art [that wasn’t the case]. But we were here and we had a voice.” The rise of the British Black Arts Movement and the landmark 1989 exhibition The Other Story (which featured work by Himid, Frank Bowling and Rasheed Araeen and transferred from the Hayward to Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1990) were pivotal moments for him. “Those were quite key small bombs going off in terms of possibility.”
Still, the heights that Anderson has reached today were unimaginable to him back then. In 2021, his painting Audition, depicting a large swimming pool scene and painted in 1998, sold for £7.4m – five times its estimate. It became the fourth most expensive painting ever sold by a living Black artist. “You kind of tune out in a way,” he says referring to his groundbreaking sales, but “I don’t want to pretend that I’m not aware.”
One might imagine that Anderson received a fat cheque off the back of that sale, but that wasn’t the case. In the UK, an artist gets royalties on a sliding scale that starts at 4% for a resale of up to £50,000, and decreases to 0.25% when the price exceeds £500,000, with a ceiling of £12,500 on the total payment. “It’s the market,” he says. “You make paintings. You make work for the ideas. But then there’s the business. And that’s where everything can get murky.”
His new exhibition isn’t about that side of art. It’s a chance for him to explore his obsessions with the pastoral, and also, play with his approach to mark-making. “I use colour as quite a practical way to mark out the space – like with this pink and light blue,” he says, indicating a large painting featuring two men getting their hair cut, which will be the centrepiece of the Hepworth show, where he has used these two colours to differentiate between the mirror and the wall. His methods are influenced by the likes of William Coldstream and Euan Uglow, British painters who used colour in a similar way.
Anderson’s approach to art feels both honest and earnest. His approach to his home life seems similar. When I ask what he does in his spare time, his reply is very wholesome. “It’s basically the kids.” He’s got an older daughter too, he tells me. “And I’ve got grandkids.” He paints with the young ones sometimes, but not too often. “I’m trying to steer them away,” he laughs. “There’s lots of other things out there that we should be doing.”
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Young people of colour in the UK don’t know enough about the history of British black music, according to Leee John, the former lead singer of 1980s soul funk group Imagination.
The band struck it big in the early 1980s with hits such as “Body Talk” and “Just an Illusion”, going on to sell 30 million albums worldwide.
Now, three decades after Imagination was part of a wave of new black artists, John says he is on a journey to “uplift and bring a positive message” to young black people beset by negative headlines about everything from the economy to stabbings and gangs.
The singer, now 65, has spent the past 10 years working on a history of British black music which he describes as his “life’s passion” and believes can offer young people knowledge to help unlock their potential.
“I think the issue with black music is that a lot of the kids don’t even know who, how, what or where things came from,” he told AFP.
“They feel like things may have started from the 90s and that’s it!”
John’s soon-to-be completed Flashback documentary project includes 400 hours of film edited into chapters going right back through the decades to the turn of last century.
It features over 100 interviews with a “kaleidoscope” of musicians, artists and others who have shaped black music in the UK.
They include Jaki Graham, Labi Siffre, Billy Ocean and Patti Boulaye as well as Pauline Black of The Selecter, Neville Staple of The Specials and Maizie Williams of Boney M.
– ‘Our time’ –
John, who grew up in London and briefly in New York during the 1960s and 70s in a family of St Lucian descent, says he was he was struck by the number of black British artists coming up after he returned from the United States.
“I thought, ‘Wow this is really interesting. So we can do it here too’,” he said.
Signed by a record company at the age of 15, he failed to score the hit record he wanted — something he describes as a painful experience that eventually made him “stronger”.
“That taught me a great deal and I had to learn my trade. I had to learn the industry and doing that made me stronger, wiser and more educated in the music scene and in how to survive,” he said.
John’s initial focus for the Flashback project was the late 1970s and 1980s, when he says there were many changes that “really changed the pathway for British black music on a global level”.
“I felt there was an organic-ness that we all had but what we didn’t have is support in distribution and marketing.”
As the new wave of black artists such as Sade, Trevor Walters, Maxi Priest and The Cool Notes started to make an impact, he says, record companies started to take note of the international interest they were generating and finally decided to invest in them.
“I think basically we found that we could do our own thing. We emulated the Americans but I felt that we found our voice.
“We’d studied, we’d learned and it was our time to create our own,” he said.
– ‘Positive message’ –
Imagination, a three-piece that also included Ashley Ingram and Errol Kennedy, had hits in 28 countries garnering them four platinum discs and nine gold discs.
Ingram and Kennedy left the band in 1987 and John and a new line-up continued until 1992 when they split.
John, also an ambassador for the SOS Children Village charity, has continued to perform both internationally and in the UK.
As some of those he interviewed for the project have since died, he said he was pleased to be able to help ensure their legacies.
“I think it’s taken for granted (but) you wouldn’t have half the artists doing what they do now if it wasn’t for these other artists,” he said.
“I think music is a universal language. That’s why they (young people) need to learn a little about Flashback and about the history of British black music.
“I think the more they learn about that, it will give them the incentive to understand what was, what is and what can still be,” he said.
“That’s my journey in life right now — to uplift and bring a positive message to the youth.”
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Iris Nevins’ Blockchain and NFT journey is captivating by all standards! As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Iris focuses on her contributions to the space rather than dwelling on potential limitations.
The CEO of Umba Daima’s determination and forward-thinking approach is evident as she continues to make her mark in the Blockchain and NFT world. Driven by her devotion to empowerment, equality, and innovation, her passion for aiding creators and promoting parity through technology is palpable as she shares her insights on the future of Blockchain and NFTs, especially in Africa.
Iris thinks NFTs will go beyond just artwork and become a primary method for storing and tracking various data, from medical records to legal documents and voting data. To fully leverage the potential of Blockchain in Africa, she emphasizes the importance of educating Africans on technology, supporting innovators, and improving infrastructure such as high-speed internet and access to computers.
MoveMint: Miss Nevins, can you relate your background and how you found yourself in Blockchain with MoveMint’s readers?
Iris Nevins (IN): “In 2020, I launched an online art store that helped Black artists in Africa and the Caribbean sell their artwork. Shortly after, I was introduced to NFTs by some college classmates. I was impressed by the opportunities that NFTs presented for creators but noticed that success required education, visibility, and community. So, together with my co-founder, we launched Black NFT Art to provide free promotion for Black/African NFT artists and to help them network and build relationships.”
MoveMint: With your background as an artist, where is the future of Blockchain technologies like NFTs heading?
IN: “I’m not an artist like most professional artists are, so I want to be careful with that term. My background is really in tech and education. NFTs will become the primary method for storing and tracking data, including medical records, legal documents, voting data, event registrations, user data, wills, deeds, etc. Its use goes far beyond artwork, but I do consider artwork to continue to be one of the more profound use cases because of how powerful a tool it can be for creators of intellectual property.”
MoveMint: Do you see Blockchain as a tool to mitigate socio-economic inequality in Africa?
IN: “I think every tool is employable for both good and bad. I hope that Blockchain is used to liberate, empower, and equalize, but that’s up to the people, leaders, and innovators within Africa to decide. It can just as effortlessly be used to create more inequality, so ‘intention’ and ‘values’ are what really matter.”
MoveMint: From your point of view, how does Africa bridge the digital divide to reap the potential of Blockchain tech?
IN: “I think empowering and educating Africans on how to use technology for problem-solving is really significant. Encouraging and supporting innovators who are building tech is really essential. And also, improving infrastructure is necessary. Investing in a robust infrastructure that supports high-speed internet will go a long way, and helping people access laptops/computers is crucial.“
MoveMint: What role do education and community building play in Blockchain adoption?
IN: “Any new technology is going to take time to adopt. And any technology that affects people’s finances should be very carefully taught to avoid unnecessary loss or suffering. So yes, absolutely, I think education is vital. It should be all forms, online, in-person, courses, etc. And then creating spaces where people can share what they are learning, and teach each other, goes a long way.”
MoveMint: Let’s look at the kind of policy that would provide Africa opportunities to derive maximum benefits from Blockchain?
IN: “I think policies that encourage innovation have positive consequences. In the US, we have some pretty outdated regulations around investments, making it very difficult for those with less wealth to actually build wealth because we’re not allowed to engage in “high-risk” or “unregulated” investment activities. The intention might be good, but the impact is restrictive for those of us who know what we’re doing and have the ability to take those risks. When it comes to crypto specifically, I hope countries realize that they don’t have to stick to outdated rules. It’s okay to evolve and let go of rules that don’t fit the new direction. People want the freedom to do what they want with THEIR money.”
MoveMint: Lastly, are there any challenges and biases against you as a woman in a male-dominated industry?
IN: “When people ask me this question, I always say, ‘I don’t know.’ I’ve never been blatantly mistreated or disrespected in this space for being a woman. Does my gender affect my opportunities, probably? Am I often in rooms with predominantly men? Yes, all the time! But I don’t spend much time thinking about what I might be losing because of my race or gender, and I try to stay hyper-focused on what I am contributing to the space!”
Follow Frisco d’Anconia on Twitter to ask any questions about Blockchain and Web3 technologies.
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department is thrilled to announce its newest event, the Summer in the Park Series, presented by Marion Jewell and Kim Weyrauch of Keller Williams Realty.
This exciting series will replace Movies in the Park and offer an expanded celebration of art, theatre, and dance, showcasing the rich talent and vibrant arts scene in our community.
The Summer in the Park Series will consist of three separate events, each dedicated to highlighting a different aspect of the performing arts. These events aim to engage and entertain residents of all ages, fostering a deeper appreciation for the arts and promoting local talent.
The first event, Art in the Park, will kick off the Summer in the Park Series on June 10th, 2023, at Heritage Park from 3:00pm-6:00pm. This event will be a spectacular celebration of visual art and artistic expression. Visitors can expect an immersive experience as they explore diverse artworks, interact with local artists, and witness live demonstrations.
Art in the Park promises to be an enriching and inspiring event for all art enthusiasts. Any artist interested in participating can sign up at ClarksvilleParksRec.com or by following this direct link https://bit.ly/3pKwTX0
The second event, Theatre in the Park, will take place on July 22nd, 2023, at Liberty Park from 3:00pm-6:00pm. This captivating event will spotlight the world of acting and performance, bringing the magic of theatre to the great outdoors in the amphitheater at Liberty Park. Attendees will be treated to the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s abridged edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream presented by the Clarksville Arts and Heritage Development Council.
In addition to the professional show, attendees will enjoy performances by talented local actors from the Southern Black Arts Council. Theatre in the Park guarantees an unforgettable experience for theatre fans of all ages.
The grand finale of the Summer in the Park Series will be Dance in the Park, held on August 12th, 2023, at Liberty Park from 3:00pm-6:00pm. This energetic and exhilarating event will honor the beauty and diversity of dance in all its forms. Dance in the Park will be a vibrant celebration of movement, rhythm, and artistic expression, featuring local dancers and companies.
Amanda Pitt, the Event Planning Specialist behind the Summer in the Park Series, expressed her excitement about the upcoming events, saying, “We are thrilled to present the Summer in the Park Series, a platform for our community to come together and appreciate the immense talent in our local arts scene. These dynamic events will offer a next level experience that will be fun for everyone in the family. “
For more information about the Summer in the Park Series and other upcoming events, please visit the Clarksville Parks and Recreation website at ClarksvilleParksRec.com or contact the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department office at 931.645.7476 or parksrec@cityofclarksville.com
Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department provides a variety of indoor/outdoor programs, facilities, nature activities and entertainment events for people living in Clarksville, Montgomery County and Fort Campbell. These free or reasonably priced, year-round experiences help residents enhance their health, wellness, and social engagement — resulting in a stronger, better community.
The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department offers a wide variety of recreational facilities and activities for all ages, maintains more than 700 acres of parks and facilities, provides 22 park facilities that offer a variety of amenities, including playgrounds, picnic areas, walking trails and pavilions or picnic shelters and maintains three community centers with year-round programming for youth, adults and seniors, as well as four public swimming pools
The Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department is located at 102 Public Square, Clarksville.
To learn more call 931.645.7476.
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Clarksville, TN – The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is located in Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee. Come explore an entire city block featuring large gallery spaces filled with fine art, science, and history.
Some of the events in June at the Museum include At Rest: A Still Life Invitational, David Smith: Tennessee Waterfalls, Between Tone & Texture: The Art of Edie Maney, Mapping Wars, Jammie Williams: Stories, Dreams and Visions, Jazz in June: An Evening with Kat Anderson, Recycled Robots with Dad.
At Rest: A Still Life Invitational
June 1st – August 30th | Orgain & Bruner Galleries
Even the simplest, everyday objects have the power to spark inspiration in an artist’s brush. This invitational exhibition features fourteen national, award-winning artists showcasing a variety of styles that celebrate the still life genre.
David Smith: Tennessee Waterfalls
June 3rd – August 29th | Harvill Gallery
Local photographer David Smith captures the movement, spectacle, and allure of waterfalls across the state of Tennessee in this collection of photographs.
Between Tone & Texture: The Art of Edie Maney
June 10th – August 21st | Crouch Gallery
Labeling herself an abstract expressionist, Edie Maney paints in a chaotic manner with layer after layer of color and strokes, finding a balance between intensity and motion. “For me, it is color that stimulates a conversation between tone and texture, between motion and shape. Four, five, six layers emerge – and a focal point is revealed.”
Mapping Wars
Through July 6th | Kimbrough Gallery
This exhibit features artifacts from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, giving insight to the strategies and plans of those engaged in battle. Take a closer look at hand-drawn maps, government documents, battle flags, and more.
Jammie Williams: Stories, Dreams and Visions
Through July 6th | Kimbrough Gallery
Jammie Williams is a professional painter and sculptor who lives and works in Middle Tennessee. His art is representational and often uses symbolic imagery. “My works are inspired by my personal memories, feelings, and emotions. I work towards conveying moods, the expression of dreams, wonder, and renewal by creating personal myths and narratives. This series of works shows an exploration of these ideas.”
Pearl of the Orient: Celebrating the Early Cultures of the Philippines
Through July 23rd | Lobby
Curated with members of our local AAPI community, this exhibit explores the various Indigenous cultures of the Philippines through languages, photographs, maps, clothing, and other artifacts.
Kitty Harvill: New to the Collection
Through August 27th | Jostens Gallery
Kitty Harvill is an award-winning wildlife artist and illustrator. This exhibit features nine original watercolors of endangered animals, created during her time in Brazil. Since 2016, Harvill has led a group of like-minded artists through ABUN – Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature. Her work is included in collections throughout the United States, Brazil, Germany and Singapore.
First Thursday Art Walk
June 1st, 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Free to the public
The Museum offers free admission during First Thursday Art Walk Clarksville from 5:00pm – 8:00pm. Zander’s Woodfired Pizza food truck will be serving up some delicious pizza and photographer Nathan Collie will be doing a meet and greet at 6 pm for his book Moments with Birds.
Jazz in June: An Evening with Kat Anderson
June 3rd | 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Tickets $75.00 | 21+
The Museum welcomes Kat Anderson for a night of soulful jazz, food, drinks and dancing. Kat has toured with American funk band The Bar-Kays and is currently the lead female vocalist for the B.B. King All Star band at B.B. King’s Blues Club in downtown Memphis. She was recently featured on a single by The Justus Brothers that debuted on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Most Added list.
All proceeds for this event go towards the Museum’s mission. With your support, the Museum can continue to provide creative program opportunities for children, share artists’ work in new exhibits and preserve the history of our community by expanding our collection. Tickets are on sale now at customshousemuseum.org.
Pista sa Nayon: A Celebration of the Philippines
June 10th | 10:30am – 12:00pm | All ages | Turner Auditorium
This event is free and open to the public. Does not include Museum admission.
Join us for a special event honoring the diverse cultures, tribes, and communities of the Philippine Islands. This event will feature song and dance performances (including Tinikling, Bakya, Janggay, and more), food tastings, and a special craft activity for children.
Storytime & Craft
June 1st & 15th, 10:30am | All ages, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Family Art Studio
Join us in the Family Art Studio to read our favorite children’s books and create fun summer-themed crafts!
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Recycled Robots with Dad
June 11th | 1:30pm – 3:00pm | All ages, with adult
$5.00 admission for children, FREE for dads/grandfathers/guardians| Executive Dining Room
Join us for a special Father’s Day art activity where families can work together to build their own robot out of recycled materials. Donuts and juice will be provided. Registration opens June 1 at customshousemuseum.org
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Buzzing About Pollinators!
June 16th | 10:30am – 12:00pm | All ages, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Courtyard
To celebrate Pollinator Week, we’re spreading awareness about the preservation of native pollinator habitats. Come participate in fun, hands-on activities and enjoy bee-themed learning experiences and crafts. Janae’s Italian Ice will be set up in the Courtyard serving up cool, sweet treats.
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Juneteenth Paint N’ Sip
June 16th | 6:30pm – 8:30pm | 21+
Tickets $35.00 | Executive Dining Room
Celebrate Juneteenth at the Museum and create a beautiful Juneteenth-themed painting. Light snacks will be provided, and we welcome you to bring a bottle of wine or other libations (no hard liquor) to sip while you create. We will supply everything you need for a great night out with friends, family or a date. Space is limited! Registration on our website at customshousemuseum.org
Juneteenth Storytelling with Tammy Hall
June 17th | 10:30am – 12:00pm | All ages, with adult | Turner Auditorium
This event is free and open to the public. Does not include Museum admission.
Join us for a special Juneteenth storytime where children can learn about the history and culture of the Juneteenth holiday from professional storyteller Tammy Hall. Afterwards, stick around for a craft in the Coca Cola Café to create your own artwork inspired by African American artist Alma Thomas.
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Family Art Saturday: Filipino Art with Sheryl LaFond
June 24th | 10:00am – 12:00pm & 2:00pm – 4:00pm | Ages 3+, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Family Art Studio
In conjunction with one of our newest exhibits, Pearl of the Orient, use different paint and drawing mediums to create your own Filipino artwork along with local artist Sheryl LaFond.
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
F&M Bank Huff & Puff Express Model Trains
Exhibit open daily | Trains run Sundays 1:00pm – 4:00pm, Wednesdays 10:00am – 12:00pm, Fridays 10:00am – 12:00pm and the last Saturday of each month 1:00pm – 4:00pm
The circus is coming to town! Enjoy one of the largest model railroad layouts in the region boasting a miniature castle, UFO, scenic landscape, and an interactive circus. Interact with the miniature world by making carnival rides move and helicopters fly. The model train exhibit is open daily, and themes change every season.
20% off ALL wood and metal items
Offer expires June 30th, 2023
Just in time for Father’s Day, shop an assortment of hand-crafted wood and metal items made right here in Tennessee for 20% off all month long!
Located in the heart of historic downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the State’s second largest general museum. The original portion of the building was constructed in 1898 as a U.S. Post Office and Customs House for the flourishing tobacco trade. Incorporating a number of architectural styles, the original structure is one of the most photographed buildings in the region.
With over 35,000 square feet of the region’s best hands-on activities and special events…people of all ages agree – the Customs House Museum is well worth the stop!
The Explorer’s Gallery is packed with fun, learning and fantasy in Aunt Alice’s Attic, McGregor’s Market and kitchen, and of course – the Bubble Cave! Finally, get “all aboard” to see our fantastic model trains. Our volunteer engineers “ride the rails” every Sunday afternoon from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $7.00, Senior Citizens and College ID $5.00, Ages 6 to 18 $3.00, and under six years and Museum members are free.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information, call 931.648.5780 or visit their website at www.customshousemuseum.org
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment
Venice, May 20 (AP) Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko is giving a platform to voices that have long been silenced at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, which opens on Saturday, the first ever curated by an African, featuring a preponderance of work by Africans and the African diaspora.
The 18th architectural Biennale, titled “The Laboratory of the Future,” explores decolonization and decarbonization, topics about which Africans have much to say, Lokko said, citing the long exploitation of the continent for both human and environmental resources.
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“The Black body was Europe’s first unit of energy,’ Lokko told The Associated Press this week.
“We have had a relationship to resources since time immemorial. We operate at a place where resources are not stable. They are also often fragile. They’re often exploited. Our relationship to them is exploitative.”
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Lokko tapped global stars like David Adjaye and Theaster Gates among 89 participants in the main show — more than half of them from Africa or the African diaspora. To reduce the Biennale’s carbon footprint, Lokko encouraged the participating architects, artists and designers to be as “paper-thin” as possible with their exhibits, resulting in more drawings, film and projections as well as the reuse of materials from last year’s contemporary art Biennale.
“This exhibition is a way of showing that this work, this imagination, this creativity, has been around for a very, very long time,’ Lokko said. “It’s just that it hasn’t found quite the right space, in the same way.”
It is a fair question why an African-centric exhibition has been so long in coming to such a high-profile, international platform like Venice.
Okwui Enwezor, the late Nigerian art critic and museum director, was the first African to head the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair, which alternates years with the architectural show, in 2015. Lokko was the first Biennale curator selected by President Roberto Cicutto, who was appointed in 2020 during the global push for inclusion ignited by the killing of George Floyd in the United States.
“This is more for us than for them,” Cicutto said, “to see the production, hear the voices we have heard too little, or heard in the way we wanted to.”
Impediments in the West to inclusive events with a focus on the global south were evident in the refusal by the Italian embassy in Ghana to approve visas for three of Lokko’s collaborators, which Lokko decried this week as “an old and familiar tale.”
A refocusing of the North-South relationship is suggested in the main pavilion’s facade: a corrugated metal roof cut into deconstructed images of the Venetian winged lion. The material is ubiquitous in Africa and other developing regions, and here offers free shade. The lion, native to Africa and for centuries a symbol of Venice, serves as a reminder of how deeply cultural appropriation runs.
“I don’t see any lions around here,’ Lokko said wryly.
Inside, Adjaye’s studio exhibits architectural models created “outside the dominant canon,” like the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in South Africa that takes inspiration from pre-colonial buildings. Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama explores the colonial exploitation in the installation, “Parliament of Ghosts.”
And Olalekan Jeyifous, a Brooklyn-based Nigerian national, creates a sprawling retro-futuristic narrative around the fictional formation of a united African Conservation Effort, something he imagines would have been constructed a decade after African decolonization in an alternative 1972.
His is no utopia. This new global Africa he imagines is flattened, at the expense of local traditions.
“It’s never utopia/dystopia. Such binary Western terms, that I’m really interested in operating outside of,’ said Jeyifous, who won the Silver Lion for a promising young participant. “It’s not just: We’ve solved all the problems now. Everything’s fantastic. It’s never that simple.”
The Golden Lion for the best participant in the main show went to Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal for their exhibit DAAR, exploring the legacy and reuse of fascist colonial architecture.
More than in previous editions, the 64 national participants responded to Lokko’s themes with pavilions that found a natural echo with the main show and its focus on climate change issues and an expanded, more-inclusive dialogue.
Denmark offered practical solutions for coastal areas to work with nature to create solutions to rising seas, proposing Copenhagen islands that invite the sea in to form canals, not unlike Venice’s.
The strategy contrasts with Venice’s own underwater barriers, which, underscoring the urgency of the issue, had to be raised during the Biennale preview week outside the usual flood season and for the first time ever in May.
Decolonisation was a natural theme at the Brazilian pavilion, where curators Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares show the architectural heritage of indigenous and African Brazilians, and challenge the “hegemonic” narrative that the capital, Brasilia, was built in the “middle of nowhere.” Their exhibit, titled “Terra,’ was awarded the Golden Lion for the best national participant.
“Decolonization is really a practice,’ Tavares said. “It’s an open word, like freedom, like democracy.”
The US Pavilion looked at ubiquitous plastic, invented and propagated in the United States, and how to cope with its durability, under the title “Everlasting Plastic.” In one of the five exhibits, Norman Teague, a Chicago-based African American artist, designer and furniture-maker, used recycled plastics from such everyday items as Tide laundry detergent bottles to create one-off baskets, referencing weaves from Senegal and Ghana.
Teague said he was inspired by Lokko’s themes to consider “how I could really think about the lineage between the continent and Chicago.”
Ukraine returns to the Biennale with two installations that, in the gentlest possible way, serve as a reminder that war continues to rage in Europe. The pavilion in the Arsenale has been decked out in black-out materials to represent ad-hoc, if futile protective measures ordinary Ukrainians are taking against the threat of Russian bombardment.
In the center of the Giardini, curators Iryna Miroshnykova, Oleksii Petrov and Borys Filonenko have recreated earthen mounds that served as barriers against 10th century invaders. Though long abandoned, overtaken by modern farming and sprawl, they proved effective against Russian tanks last spring.
Despite their serious message, the curators said they hope visitors will come to lounge, and that children will be left to roll down the grassy hills.
“These spaces, the fortifications, are a place to be quiet, to chill. But it is also kind of a reminder that somewhere, someone is fearing for their safety,’ Filonenko said.(AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment