So I was in a 100 days of art show with a few beautiful, talented, women. Maya Freelon Asante, Ashley Haley, Rikiesha Hawkins, and Stacey Watkins. It was at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, which is so freaking cool. I wouldn't mind having a studio there . . . Anyhoo, Mrs. Maya Freelon Asante does and she invited us to put some stuff on the walls and walahh, MAGIC!
It all started with our first meeting. My spiritual partner Rocky (Rikiesha Hawkins) showed her 100 Days project as she emptied a bag of jeweled figures. As we spread them out and connected to their ambiance, they grew and grew. They watered a seed in my heart and I started to imagine places to house them.
I gathered the kiddos, gave Daj'zha (The Apprentice) a satchel, and we set off into the woods on a hike to remember. They took me through their secret world and I became a kid again, remembering my own little nooks and crannies that I wandered in and out of during my most cherished time as a child. We picked buttercups, revered trees, ingested God's majesty, and went on an adventure, sticker brier bushes and all. For the first time in months, I was breathing. I mean really partaking in the experience of inhaling and exhaling life and that is all. (Big ol' sigh)
I spent a few days prepping paper, dying some with teas, gessoing, and hanging them up outside to dry on cords. My patio was looking like an artist sanctuary from the street, I fought off ant's and soaked in the sun rays which felt more like God smiling on me.
Then I started to unload my bag of goodies that we collected along our marvelous hike. So many treasures the forest offered. Fallen debris, along the wayside, left for dead, screaming out, "I shall live and not die".
Life and Death was heavy on my mind, because it was around the time when the news really broke on Traevon Martin. I was flooded with feelings of what if this were my son. The hatred that was spurring from the guts of this case made my guts churn. I wanted to run away to an island. Because the thought that I was living in a place where someone, too many someones, didn't want me to be, made me feel dissed. Spat upon. And what could I say or do, but take a picture of my kids in hoodies? I questioned, what did the people who's backs I stand on do when faced with these same tragic realizations. Those artists spoke up and spread the truth to the people. To all who would listen. Again, I felt that familiar call to service that I felt when Obama took office. God was on the end of the line like, "You gotta say something. You gotta stand for something. Don't fall unless you're falling on your knees. I need you to stand." Like Tom Feelings stood back in the day. He is one of my personal heroes from the Black Arts Movement. He did what I want to do.
So I started laying out the found natural materials from my walk with Yah, cause She was certainly there in my dirty wet timberlands. (I'm always, falling in the creek. I think my feet do it on purpose.)
And the piece of art for the exhibition was birthed. Solitarily Unconfined.
I'm confined in some ways, yes, to my thoughts, internally. Cause all this mess has got me feeling useless, while in my mind, I have the power to make a difference. I just have to get my hands to see it all through. Still, my spirit roams free, much like Rikiesha's little wire figures. I feel alone and lost sometimes through the madness but although it feels like I'm on this journey solitarily, I know that God is with me and my steps are certainly ordered.
Thanks Kee (Rikiesha Hawkins) for the lovely wire sculptures! They really bring the piece to life!
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