half note 004: Connecting the dots –> The Value of Black Womxns’ Poetries.

A few weeks ago, while surfing around on my IG feed  I came across the Health Promotion Practice podcast by Dr. Shanae Burch.

This episode features  Drs. Bettina Judd and Amber Johnson are both poet-scholars who are using poetry and poetic lens to engage their work in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and  Social Justice respectively.

You should really check out this episode of the podcast and their back catalog which often features poetry.

I have known Dr. Judd for quite some time and have always appreciated the rigor she brings to her poetry. As many of us poets attempt to do, she brings together an interdisciplinary mix of influences to her poetries and other writing.

Judd’s book patient (which you should go get), included some poems which joined in the chorus of Black (and other) women poets to creatively engage the history of  Saartje  Bartman.  I think I first became aware of  Bartman’s story through Dr. Elizabeth Alexander’s book , The Venus Hottentot. Since then many Black writers have added their voices Some of the writers and artists have added their voices to mentioning or telling  Bartman’s story in their creative works, Wikipedia has a list here that I think is a primer, but it missed both the poetry books of Dr. Bettina Judd (patient)  and poet-educator Dominque Christina (Anarcha Speaks). Both of these books give voice to the history of medical experimentation that Black women have endured in the name of advancing “Western medicine.”

I know that Wikipedia is not meant to be comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination, but I  expect more of Harvard, the Hutchins Center, and of the Resilient Sisterhood Project.

The Hutchins Center recently mounted an exhibition, Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to Our Foremothers in Gynecology. It is an amazing selection of artists, curator Dell M. Hamilton, places in conversation with paying homage to the “foremothers” of gynecology.

I was excited to see an exhibition guide that has images of the works, curatorial statements, and artist bios. Also included is a list of further reading on both the static website and the pdf exhibition guide.

While perusing the further reading, I was surprised to not see any of the Black women poets and playwrights on the website or the exhibition guide. What was even more curious was none of the creative works by Black women (Elizabeth Alexander, Suzan-Lori Parks, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Lydia R. Diamond, Jamila Woods, Zodwa Nyoni, Tessa McWatt, Meghan Swaby, Bettina Judd, Dominique Christina…i am sure there are others) were included, yet a very recently published book (SAY ANARCHA by J.C. Hallman) by a white male author was later added to the list

I must admit I am quite surprised and disappointed that the works of these Black women were not added to the list of resources, Alexander and Parks in particular, because I speculate that the acclaim and reach of their works ( and many others prior to 2002) added to the discussion that moved the French National Museum of Natural History to return her remains to Bartman’s home in South Africa.

This to me speaks to the lack of value placed on the poetics (and other production) of Black women, even when telling the stories of Black women. While I understand that Hallman’s SAY ANARCHA is “staggeringly researched”, I can say no less of not just the scholarship and rigor of the work of the Black women who have engaged with Bartman and others, but also of their lived experiences which surely render them as experts to be included a “further reading” and to broaden the discussion and scope of the exhibition.
What is further confounding is the exhibition that was co-sponsored by an organization called the Resilient Sisterhood Project would not privilege the work of Black women creative writers. **** Hallman does make one small reference Judd’s patient, the online archive of the book

We have to do better. Black women poet-scholars are continuing the long tradition of producing work that merges their creative and critical expertise, and we are better for it, but we should be taking every opportunity we have to put their voices in our conversations, especially when the conversation intersects with both their expertise and their lived experiences.

 

 

 

 

website issues part deux

I just fixed a long-standing issue I had been having with the Contact page, but I think I got it all worked out now.

I apologize if you have reached out to me and I did not get the message.

updates

On the Way to Salif Keita's Island
On the Way to Salif Keita’s Island

I know updates have been scarce…what can I say except, soon come. In the meantime head over to BOOM FOR REAL Bamako and check out a few updates over there.

Gratitude

Me @ Studio Sidibe, The studio of renowned Malian photogrpaher, Malick Sidibe.
Me @ Studio Sidibe, The studio of renowned Malian photogrpaher, Malick Sidibe.

As usual, the end of the year puts me an introspective mood, which sends my mind all over the place. Very often I find myself thinking about the future, what the next move will be for me, my art and my family.  But quite often before I dive into the future, I find myself thinking about the year that has passed, what I have lost, gained, learned or even what I am going through at the present moment.

As those thoughts pass through my mind, I am in a mood of gratitude in general , but also because of some recent good news…

A few months ago, one of my poems was accepted by The Editors (Mahogany L. Browne and Amanda Johnston) for the #‎blackpoetsspeakout‬  issue of Pluck! Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture (click here & here for more info). Needless to say it is an honor to be a part of the sea of poetic voices speaking up for our people as we face the crisis of state sponsored and sanctioned violence, through police and law enforcement who are supposed to be serving and protecting. Because I am living abroad, it hard to watch and to hear about all the things going on and not to be present to be a part of protests or to help out in someway. But I also realize this is a global issue and that the work I am trying to do with empowering Malian (and other West African artists) is a part of that struggle too.

Because of the vision of the guest editors, that this issue of pluck! was intended to be used as “a personal amulet, a tool in the classroom and a hammer in the streets. Get it either way, but carry it forward.” Editor Amanda Johnston goes on to say “Because this work is for the people and these poems have work to do, pluck! issue 13 is now available for FREE online. Click here to read now.

Here is how you can get a print copy for you or your institution:

Pluck! $15/copy mail to:
pluck!, 1215 POT
University of KY
Lexington KY 40506

$30/subscription for individuals
$100/sub for institutions and organizations

Click Here for more info

———————–

Secondly, I am grateful that Sarah Browning accepted a few of my poems for a forthcoming issue of the Delaware Poetry Review that will be out Spring of 2016.

And…

Last, but most definitely not least,  I just found out a few days a ago that a small dialogue that I recorded with Kwame Dawes ( find him here & here) will be included in the final cut of Furious Flower III. I cannot even explain the kind of honor this is, mostly because even though I have been to thelast two Furious Flower Conferences and other tributes and events in between, I still walk around kind of starstruck to be among some of my super accomplished peers and folks whose work has shaped and continues to help me shape, my own work. So to be in the video presentation really means a lot me.

I am beyond grateful, thank you to Dr. Joanne V. Gabbin, for grabbing me by the hand that day back in September “to go with her to talk to Kwame” and many thanks to Judith McCray, of Juneteenth Productions for crafting Kwame’s brilliance and my babbling into a really nice dialogue (I almost sound like I know a little something).

I also want to thank the few of you who take the time to read my random and often infrequent thoughts on this and my other web presences. Please know that it is EXTREMELY appreciated!

Onward & Upward…

***I am also super thankful for my parents, The Joiners of Bowie coming to visit The Joiner of Bamako for 5 weeks and for our upcoming trip home to the States for the holidays, this is the first time we will all be home together for the Holiday Season.

Joiners of Bowie & Joiners of Bamako
Joiners of Bowie & Joiners of Bamako

 

CAS51 & American University present Kinetic: Conversations in Contemporary Art Series w/Titus Kaphar Friday, Nov 6, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

F15 Kenitc_Monitor Slide

Kinetic: Conversations in Contemporary Art Series with Titus Kaphar
Friday, November 6, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
AU Museum

A dynamic lecture series sparking critical dialogue about contemporary art and creative professional practices. Generously sponsored by Dr. Darryl Atwell. Free and open to the public.

Titus Kaphar’s ‘The Vesper Project’ is a massive sculptural statement—an encompassing installation, in which Kaphar’s own work is seamlessly woven into the walls of a 19th­ century American house. The culmination of an intense five ­year engagement with the lost storylines of the Vesper family, the project was “birthed in a state of extended disbelief,” according to Kaphar. As the artist’s muses, the members of the Vesper family and their histories are intertwined with Kaphar’s autobiographical details, and layered with wide­based cultural triggers of identity and truth in the context of historical accounting. In ‘The Vesper Project’, period architecture, gilt frames, a vintage typewriter, a neglected wardrobe,and old photographs act as seemingly recognizable elements, but by employing every tool of his trade, Kaphar insinuates doubt and transports the viewer into a disrupted mental state. As the house fractures,so does the viewer’s experience. In so doing, Kaphar compresses times, conflates the continuum of history and postulates new powerful realities.With many of Kaphar’s interventions present in the installation including slashing, silhouetting, and whitewashing, this singular work is a complex map of overlapping timetables and collective genealogies. By obliterating the distance between the viewer and the work, ‘The Vesper Project’ is comprehensive,experiential, and it is the artist’s most ambitious expression to date.

Below as Above

A few days ago I found out my poem was chosen as the winner for The Divine Comedy Poetry contest at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.

The contest is one the events connected to the new exhibition,  The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists.  

Abdoulaye Konaté b. 1953, Mali Dance of Kayes from La Danse series 2008 Textile, each: approx. 246.4 x 170.2 cm (97 x 67 in.). Collection of Saro León
Abdoulaye Konaté
b. 1953, Mali
Dance of Kayes from La Danse series
2008
Textile, each: approx. 246.4 x 170.2 cm
(97 x 67 in.).
Collection of Saro León

My poem was in response to Malian textile artist, Abdoulaye Konate’s 2008  Dance of Kayes from La Danse series, as seen above. Read the poem here.

I choose Konate’s work not only because he is Malian, but because his exhibition at the Institut Francais of Mali , was the one of the only art of a Malian artist I had seen other than Malick Sidibe, Seydou Keita, Alioune Bâ and a few others – all photographers.  Painter, Amadou Sanogo, was the other Malian artist’s work that I had seen, aside of the famous Malian photographers.

I also chose Konate’s piece because of the cool colors he chose to represent Kayes are not what I expected given that the Kayes region is one of the hottest places on the planet, so the contrast was quite striking.

 

I was asked to read the poem at the Museum’s Divine Poetour this summer on July 2. Split This Rock’s DC Youth Slam Team and NMAfA’s Teen Ambassadors, will be reading their works that engage the The Divine Comedy exhibition.  So come out and support the DC Youth Slam Team and NMAfA’s Teen Ambassadors. Peep the flyer below…

The Divine Poetour, July 2nd @NMAfA
The Divine Poetour, July 2nd @NMAfA

I am excited to be a part of The Divine Poetour, it looks like it will be similar to a project that I did afew years back as a collaboration between The American Poetry Museum and The Phillips Collection.

 

 

 

Banned In DC? Part 3

Naomi and Daddy in front on my piece for Ceremonies of Dark Men
Naomi and Daddy in front on my piece for Ceremonies of Dark Men

Here we are me and Naomi, standing in front of the now removed collaborative piece for CoDM featuring Don Camp’s images an and excerpt from my poem Seven Ways of Looking at Black Flowers.

I was told that piece would be relocated to Union Market, so any of you DC folks happen to be in the area let me know if you see it in the area.

Banned in DC? Part 2 or “All Your Art Belongs to Us”

Early this morning (Nov. 4th), the Ceremonies of Dark Men, posted an brief explanation as; to why the piece the Camp/Joiner collaboration was removed, it said the following

“A member of JBG Companies, a real estate development firm, had enough clout to render the agreement between them and the DC Commission null and void and had the piece by Camp and Joiner removed. Evidently, they took issue with Joiner’s poem.”

In addition to the the above explanation, CoDM posted a beautifully done video montage of the a gentleman named Frank X reciting my poem in its entirety, mixed with images by Don Camp. Although it would have nice to have read the poem myself, I am pleased with the outcome. Thanks to A.M. Weaver , Kelli Anderson, Frank X anyone else involved in making that happen!

The reality of this piece being removed  and why it was removed may speak to larger issues around public art, who owns it and who gets to say whether it stays public or not.

That said, I would like to give a super shout out to developers who do not censor artists and who seek to understand art without projecting their own rigid and perhaps even racist views onto a piece of art.
Shout out Arch Development Corporation in Anacostia, in the many years that I have worked with them, I have never felt censored or creatively stifled in anyway. They have always allowed me or the artists that I have worked with the liberty to say what they want or need to say; so I am thankful for Arch Development for all that they have done and continue to do for art, artists, Anacostia and for DC overall.
Shout to Bozzuto, although I am new tenant in the Monroe Street Market and I have not been “working” with Bozzuto a long time, it appears that they open to trusting their partners (Cultural DC) to select quality artists to occupy their spaces and then letting the artists doing what they do best, create. That said I hope that I am not speaking prematurely, because if “a member of JBG Companies” had enough clout to lean on the DC Commission, perhaps he/she will have the same kind of influence on their fellow developer. Who knows, I guess we will find out…

I do hope that the billboard will be remounted somewhere else in the city, I am putting my bid in for Brookland or in Anacostia, since those are communities that I am connected to through The Center for Poetic Thought and through my long standing work with Arch Development

 

Stay Tuned

Update 8:32AM (UTC) Nov.5th 2014

The quoted paragraph above

 

“A member of JBG Companies, a real estate development firm, had enough clout to render the agreement between them and the DC Commission null and void and had the piece by Camp and Joiner removed. Evidently, they took issue with Joiner’s poem.”

has been removed from the statement made by CoDM on early in the morning on Nov 4th. I am curious as to why…