Remember & Rise - Remember & Become
These Paintings investigate the life and death of prominent activists, artists, poets, leaders, within the black and brown community.
The paintings are divided in two categories: Tragedy and Triumph
Tragedy deals with the death of the individuals depicted.
Triumph deals with the life of the individuals, by simply depicting their portrait elevated with the sun disk/halo motif.
The imagery of triumph, are stylized portraits. Singular portraits are used for clarity, to single out the individual, to elevate them and their contribution. Giving a platform to those otherwise not represented in the fine art world.
The images are strategically cropped and curated, to elevate the image from its stock photography.
The imagery of tragedy, and its presentation, is supposed to parallel memory.
A memory is deconstructed through time losing it's context. I try to recreate this attribute in each painting. A main image, represents the first recollection. Then, I break down the compositional elements of the main image, until its abstracted and unrecognizable, like a series of old memories of the same moment.
With all my paintings, I consider the frame like the hilt of a sword.
Much like the handle of a sword, the frame helps in the function of the work. It helps in the transition of the work from the environment, to the perception of the viewer. The frame, or lack there of, helps to isolate the work, and helps to bring the work into focus.
In this work, the frames play a key role in balancing the simplified expressive style of the painting, with the contrast of an antique-ish, western, decorative frame.
The frames are a representation of western ideals. Together with the paintings, the visual dialogue is rifting off the idea that the western world "frames" the people and events I've depicted.
Additionally,
Copper metallic notes are utilized in the paintings and frames to represent a color metaphor for melanin.
(Copper is found in an enzyme that catalyzes the production of melanin, which is responsible for pigment in our skins).
The gold in my work, represents culture and action. Gold also represents the high level of development in black and brown communities. The living works of the black and brown community, and the exploitation of its riches - material and non material, is represented by gold in my work.
...(still) in development
"We the People..."
- Fred Hampton, Chairman
We must not forget, the sacrifices made, so that we may stand that much higher, and build on the foundation that was laid before us.
It is unfortunate, that the foundation we stand on has been stained and fortified, not only in the blood of our ancestors, but the blood of our leaders and innovators.
We must not forget, we must not become complacent or stagnant. We must carry the current that was ignited by those who meant to propel us to POWER and FREEDOM.
So that their death is not in vain.
We must never forget, how strongly they fought, and how strongly the opposition, the OPPRESSORS, fought against them.
... assassinating not only their lives, but their character, culture, and community.
"i'm going to die for the People, because I live for the People!"
- Fred Hampton, Chairman
Fred Hampton was a young black man who was able to focus the wild fire of youthful rebellion into a positive force, a positive wave for our community. He started out working with the NAACP until he caught wind of the new Black Panther Party. He eventually became chairman of the Chicago chapter and was an inspiring leader who preached about INCLUSION, and the importance of EDUCATION BEFORE ACTION.
The People ...were the oppressed...
..and the pigs were anyone, of any color, who perpetuated the oppression of the People.
Elaine Brown of the Black Panthers Party, said Fred Hampton inspired and Rallied the community together.
Particularly the young black community, he himself a young black man in his 20s.
Fred Hampton was able to unify the gangs of his chicago community, to help bring solidarity amongst "the People."
She said, he brought together hundreds of people in the community. Inspired them to be dedicated and disciplined through education, exercise, and community work.
Fred Hampton,
Chairman of The Black Panther Party (Illinois), Deputy Chairman of BPP (national)
8/30/48 - 12/4/69
... a painting of the bed, Fred Hampton was laying on, when he was shot.
...bullet holes litter the wall, above where he slept.
Fred Hampton, was drugged by a FBI agent and shot in the bed where he lied next to his fiancé who was pregnant with his unborn child. The Police then dragged his body off the bed to shoot him dead on the floor, leaving him in a doorway....
Never forget the sacrifices.
They fought for OUR RIGHTS, don't throw them away.
One of the most important RIGHTS Fred Hampton and leaders like him, were fighting for, was our right to ORGANIZE; and form a NEW PARTY; TO VOTE; participate in POLITICS and POWER.
...Willing to face tremendous opposition and even death. DON'T dismiss the POWER of POLITICS. Don't let their death be in vain.
We must never forget.
"Now the point that I’m making is this: Never at any time in the history of our people in this country have we made advances or advancement, or made progress in any way just based upon the internal good will of this country, or based upon the internal activity of this country. We have only made advancement in this country when this country was under pressure from forces above and beyond its control. Because the internal moral consciousness of this country is bankrupt. It hasn’t existed since they first brought us over here and made slaves out of us."
- Malcolm X
WE must never forget...
"When they want to suppress and oppress the Black community, what do they do? They take the statistics, and through the press, they feed them to the public. They make it appear that the role of crime in the Black community is higher than it is anywhere else. What does this do? This message—this is a very skillful message used by racists to make the whites who aren’t racists think that the rate of crime in the Black community is so high. This keeps the Black community in the image of a criminal. It makes it appear that anyone in the Black community is a criminal. And as soon as this impression is given, then it makes it possible, or paves the way to set up a police-type state in the Black community, getting the full approval of the white public when the police come in, use all kind of brutal measures to suppress Black people, crush their skulls, sic dogs on them, and things of that type. And the whites go along with it. Because they think that everybody over there’s a criminal anyway. This is what—the press does this.
This is skill. This skill is called—this is a science that’s called “image making.” They hold you in check through this science of imagery. They even make you look down upon yourself, by giving you a bad image of yourself. Some of our own Black people who have eaten this image themselves and digested it—until they themselves don’t want to live in the Black community. They don’t want to be around Black people themselves."
-Malcolm X
...We have fallen folly to the will of the stereotype, the IMAGE made for US. Our very own community, continue to perpetuate the NEGATIVE imagery, allowing the outside PREJUDICE of SOCIETY, to DICTATE the image of black people, of brown people.
SOCIAL MEDIA depicts impoverished blacks engaging in antisocial activity, as well as affluent wealthy black people engaging in antisocial ratchet behavior. This represents an inescapable paradox of the DISTORTED black image. Modern "IMAGE MAKING" of black people writes us in history as uncivil, no matter our economic status, with no BALANCE from the alternative.
We MUST CHANGE this...
"Why? Because those who oppress know that you can’t make a person hate the root without making them hate the tree. You can’t hate your own and not end up hating yourself. And since we all originated in Africa, you can’t make us hate Africa without making us hate ourselves. And they did this very skillfully. And what was the result? They ended up with 22 million Black people here in America who hated everything about us that was African. We hated the African characteristics, the African characteristics. We hated our hair. We hated our nose, the shape of our nose, and the shape of our lips, the color of our skin. Yes we did. And it was you who taught us to hate ourselves simply by shrewdly maneuvering us into hating the land of our forefathers and the people on that continent.
As long as we hated those people, we hated ourselves. As long as we hated what we thought they looked like, we hated what we actually looked like. And you call me a hate teacher. Why, you taught us to hate ourselves. You taught the world to hate a whole race of people and have the audacity now to blame us for hating you simply because we don’t like the rope that you put around our necks. When you teach a man to hate his lips, the lips that God gave him, the shape of the nose that God gave him, the texture of the hair that God gave him, the color of the skin that God gave him, you’ve committed the worst crime that a race of people can commit. And this is the crime that you’ve committed."
- Malcolm X
... Since before the revelations of BACON's REBELLION; the western COMPLEX of resentment spawned from the African occupation of the european nations; to the present day perversions of BLACK IMAGERY. Black people have been facing a ideological battle.
WORLD history has been rewritten for us many times over, placing black people under the foot of culture and society.
But the REALITY is... We have never been under the foot of society, because WE ARE THE FOOT,
WE ARE THE LEG,
WE ARE THE BRAIN.
WE ARE THE BODY... OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY, everything else is a DERIVATIVE.
And when we move, the whole of humanity MOVES.
We must be MINDFUL of our IMAGE...
Malcolm X
5/19/25 - 2/21/65
"All the nations that signed the charter of the UN came up with the Declaration of Human Rights and anyone who classifies his grievances under the label of “human rights” violations, those grievances can then be brought into the United Nations and be discussed by people all over the world. For as long as you call it “civil rights” your only allies can be the people in the next community, many of whom are responsible for your grievance. But when you call it “human rights” it becomes international. And then you can take your troubles to the World Court. You can take them before the world. And anybody anywhere on this earth can become your ally.
So one of the first steps that we became involved in, those of us who got into the Organization of Afro American Unity, was to come up with a program that would make our grievances international and make the world see that our problem was no longer a Negro problem or an American problem but a human problem. A problem for humanity and a problem which should be attacked by all elements of humanity. A problem that was so complex that it was impossible for Uncle Sam to solve it himself and therefore we want to get into a body or conference with people who are in such positions that they can help us get some kind of adjustment for this situation before it gets so explosive that no one can handle it."
-Malcolm X
... Malcolm X was not only a REVOLUTIONARY, but he was an EVOLUTIONARY.
His greatest attribute was his ability to evolve, despite his convictions.
People segment his LIFE and WORK. But the POWER, and content of his work, is fully realized only when you place it in CONTEXT.
Malcolm X wanted to LIBERATE his black people, not only from the oppression of the racists outside of his community, but from the OPPRESSION, of hypocrisy within his own community.
He sought to UNIFY ALL AFRICAN descendants around the world as a UNITED front, against the ruling elite.
He wanted to reeducate the world by collaborating with local and world organizations; establish a seat in the UN; and permeate the MEDIA (press) with a positive, powerful, noble image of Black people.
Sadly, because of the poisonous HYPOCRISY of the black muslims, He was slain in front of his followers and family.
It was this, eerily STOIC image of the Audubon Theatre, Where Malcolm X was viciously murdered moments before, that stood out to me. The theatre, empty of all the chairs, with the podium and mic still standing... A symbolic image for so many things, one of which spoke to the profound emptiness, left behind after his death.
ENLIGHTENED, and in an interview after he came back from Mecca, He described why he was called, Hajj-Malik El Shabazz... He went further to say, after the description, that he would still be called MALCOLM X, as long as the people needed him to fight for them.
We still need you to fight for us, with us...
One day we may HONOR our people with our liberation, and be blessed, to call Malcolm X, by his name, his honorific -
Hajj-Malik El Shabazz
الحاجّ مالك الشباز
"Whatever your personal opinions and your insecurities about homosexuality and the various liberation movements among homosexuals and women (and I speak of the homosexuals and women as oppressed groups), we should try to unite with them in a revolutionary fashion.
I say ”whatever your insecurities are” because as we very well know, sometimes our first instinct is to want to hit a homosexual in the mouth, and want a woman to be quiet. We want to hit a homosexual in the mouth because we are afraid that we might be homosexual; and we want to hit the women or shut her up because we are afraid that she might castrate us, or take the nuts that we might not have to start with."
- Dr. Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense - BPP
... I thought this quote shows how candid and real, Dr. Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP), was in the delivery of his vision.
The other important aspect of this quote, that can't be dismissed, is his EMPHASIS on the SOLIDARITY of all OPPRESSED people.
That, the Party became something more than the unity of black people.
The Black Panther Party was a REVOLUTION, for all those who were oppressed.
Never Forget...
"Laws and rules have always been made to serve people. Rules of society are set up by people so that they will be able to function in a harmonious way. In other words, in order to promote the general welfare of society, rules and laws are established by men. Rules should serve men, and not men serve rules. Much of the time, the laws and rules which officials attempt to inflict upon poor people are non-functional in relation to the status of the poor in society.
These officials are blind to the fact that people should not respect rules that are not serving them. It is the duty of the poor to write and construct rules and laws that are in their better interests. This is one of the basic human rights of all men."
- Dr. Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense - BPP
... We NEED, We MUST, Be the stewards and authors of the laws that govern us - THE PEOPLE.
We will never become free or liberated as long as we serve the law. We must create LAWS that SERVE US.
We MUST CHANGE our MINDSET and stop believing we are meant to SERVE and OBEY the government. The GOVERNMENT is supposed to serve us. Not by law of constitution, but by the law of nature and science. HARMONY is created through structure. If there is disharmony, then the structure needs to be adjusted accordingly.
Freedom is not about getting what you WANT, but it's about having ACCESS to what you NEED and having the EQUITY in opportunity, options, and choice. That is TRUE FREEDOM.
"The ruling circle have recognized that this is one world...
They no longer acknowledge wars, they call them 'police actions.' They say we're having a civil disturbance because the people of Vietnam are rioting.
The police are everywhere and they all wear the same uniforms, and all have the same job, which is to protect the interests of the ruling circle."
- Dr. Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense - BPP
Dr. Huey P Newton,
Minister of Defense - BPP
2/17/42 - 8/22/89
“… you're our future, we learn things from you , and you’ll make the future for us, and in doing that, it makes better people out of us, because we go on the progression of learning. We all have to keep learning about things.
… create an environment, where we don’t! stop you from asking questions. Always ask questions about everything. That’s the only way you’ll find out things. Then after you get the answers don’t be satisfied with that, because no one has the whole answer… we only have part of it, and if we pretend we have the whole, we’re not telling the truth. It’s hard for us to find the answer, because we’re so used to accepting the old answers, but your the new people, the new adults.”
-Dr. Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense
... In a TV spot on PBS's “Rebop,” a TV show dedicated to social change, and cultural diversity amongst youth, featured the Oakland Community School. The Oakland Community School was founded by the Black Panther Party. In this interview, Dr. Newton was addressing a young student of the school, when he made the above statements.
Perhaps one of the most profoundly powerful tools at the BPP’s disposal was education. BPP used education not only to enlighten and empower themselves, but to serve as a check and balances, to serve as a fuel and catalyst for the change they intended to bring about. I believe the school was perhaps the most ground breaking developments of the movement.
The school was not able to survive the chaos of the era, but it's relevance shines bright today.
Dr. Huey P. Newton, was not a perfect leader, but he was truly the embodiment of the VANGUARD. One of his most controversial positions, was his "criminal" interests. Where he saw the "criminal activity" of his community as an energy to be transformed. Though, It was this exact element he intended to change, that brought him to his tragic end.
Dr, Huey P. Newton was killed in a West Oakland neighborhood, presumably, during a failed drug exchange.
I thought his death, and this image, taken from an ABC news cast, was another solemn moment in our history. Some say it was another conspired assassination. Maybe not this exact time, but the same elements and agents designed to destroy the BPP, followed Dr. Huey P. Newton to his death.
Note, Dr. Huey P. Newton's idea to transform the criminal activities of the community into something profitable, was not a misguided idea. He just utilized the wrong means by which to transform it. His idea still isn't fully realized, but the criminal life has already been transformed. Criminal activity has been converted from an action, to a content producer for a culture. This culture was fabricated and transformed with ART - MUSIC, and was named, Hip Hop.
Art, is, and always has been, the most effective transformative element of social change.
Imagine if we had a Huey P. Newton, JAY-Z, or a Bobby Seale, Diddy...
...2PAC was on the verge of BECOMING.
Never SETTLE....
"Now the other thing that we've gotta come to see now that many of us didn't see too well during the last ten years — that is that racism is still alive in American society. And much more wide-spread than we realized. And we must see racism for what it is. It is a myth of the superior and the inferior race. It is the false and tragic notion that one particular group, one particular race is responsible for all of the progress, all of the insights in the total flow of history. And the theory that another group or another race is totally depraved, innately impure, and innately inferior.
...
To use a philosophical analogy here, racism is not based on some empirical generalization; it is based rather on an ontological affirmation. It is not the assertion that certain people are behind culturally or otherwise because of environmental conditions. It is the affirmation that the very being of a people is inferior. And this is the great tragedy of it."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
...RACISM is alive and well, in the 21st century. Instead of being an open wound on the surface of society, it is a CANCEROUS tumor hiding within the benevolent body of good intentions and the blissful DENIAL of the mind.
"I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
... FREEDOM is never given. Freedom, is not sustainable through violence either.
Freedom is developed, and nurtured through the diligent works of the Just.
Freedom dies in silence, and grows in the melodious VOICE of the PEOPLE without.
"But after saying this, let me say another thing which gives the other side, and that is that although it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. Even though it may be true that the law cannot change the heart, it can restrain the heartless. Even though it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, it can restrain him from lynching me. And I think that's pretty important also. And so while the law may not change the hearts of men, it can and it does change the habits of men. And when you begin to change the habits of men, pretty soon the attitudes will be changed; pretty soon the hearts will be changed. And I'm convinced that we still need strong civil rights legislation."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively -- that means all of us together -- collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1/15/29 - 4/4/68
"And I finally said to him that it's a nice thing to say to people that you oughta lift yourself by your own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he oughta lift himself by his own bootstraps. And the fact is that millions of Negroes, as a result of centuries of denial and neglect, have been left bootless. They find themselves impoverished aliens in this affluent society. And there is a great deal that the society can and must do if the Negro is to gain the economic security that he needs.
Now one of the answers it seems to me, is a guaranteed annual income, a guaranteed minimum income for all people, and for our families of our country. It seems to me that the Civil Rights movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income. Begin to organize people all over our country, and mobilize forces so that we can bring to the attention of our nation this need, and this is something which I believe will go a long long way toward dealing with the Negro's economic problem and the economic problem which many other poor people confront in our nation."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Foresight of our leaders...
Dr. Martin Luther King was slain on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. In that instant the Heart of the movement was shattered.
I discovered this image of the blood stain left behind, on the concrete of the balcony.
It looked like a storm cloud in the sky when I saw it, but in reality it was something more gritty and heavy than the sum of it's material parts.
Sadly, our leaders were not allowed to live alongside their legacy, and our community was left with large gravitas holes in our spirits, minds, and purpose.
We must not allow their DEATH to discourage, disenfranchise, destroy the content and drive for our liberation. LIBERATION from our own hypocrisy. The liberation from oppression, and those who seek to oppress us.
May these memories be carved in our thoughts, so that we REMEMBER the SACRIFICES made for us.
A CHAMPION amongst men, eloquent and stoic.
"We're not just interested in voting so that the conditions will be improved for negros, we want conditions improved for everybody."
- Medgar Evers
"If we don't like what the Republicans do, we need to get in there and change it."
- Medgar W. Evers
Medgar W. Evers,
NAACP Field Secretary (Mississippi)
7/2/1925 - 6/12/1963
"I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them."
- Medgar W. Evers
You did not die in vain elder, you did not. your legacy shines bright as a nebula in the heavens, striking light across the night.
"...there is something within, there is something within."
- Myrlie L. Evers-Williams
There is something within, within all of us, that ignites our courageous spirit.
Medgar W. Evers was an embodiment of this courage.
Courage is fueled not by fear, but by the unyielding conviction amongst opposition and injustice. Medgar W. Evers, knew this well, and lived his life as such.
Our conviction must be tempered with the knowledge of these sacrifices. To realize how valuable our rights are, and why we must continue to propagate the legacy of leaders like Medgar w. Evers.