on friday, sara and i shared an over-the-top experience in our current 360, which led us--curiously, curiously--
back to the fund-raising this group did in November. for the backstory, see Dutch wax fabrics, conceived ecologically....

I have to admit it, I was seriously dragging my feet on Friday. There were TOO MANY OBSTACLES. I knew that the universe was telling us to GIVE UP. By 10 am, I was certainly ready to--and I kept telling Ava and David, for the next two hours, that they were trying too hard to make something happen...

and then I was so glad that they did! (I'm also glad, aphorisnt, that you did NOT swerve--who knows what might have happened then....?!?)

I was so surprised and delighted by the Shonibare exhibit, when we finally arrived @ the Barnes Foundation: I was grabbed first by the whimsy, by the color, and also as immediately by the complex representation of colonializing educational practices. Like others, I was particularly struck by history of the Dutch wax textiles, so I did a little more reading on The Curious History of "Tribal" Prints: How the Dutch peddle Indonesian-inspired designs to West Africa. What strikes me most in this account is how "ecological" it is--that is, how demonstrative that "everything is connected," not just biologically, but culturally and commercially (really? I think there's an Econ project lurking close to the surface here: see the web site for VLISCO,  which offers free delivery to Africa....).

A few lines from the Slate article, which highlight these interconnections:

Shonibare's Magic Ladders exhibit at the Barnes Foundation was incredible, interesting, and thought provoking. I was particularly struck by the way books from Albert Barnes' own collection were incorporated in the exhibit--especially how they were used as rungs on the ladder. I was thinking about colonialism and education, and how perhaps the books on the ladder represented the fact that it takes a certain kind (Western/colonial style) of education and specific books for someone to be deemed educated & enlighened. It was also interesting how the books were also on the desks where headless mannequins were sitting. What does this say about the adults who receive the Westernized/colonial education? 

My favorite part of the Shonibare exibit was the piece Scramble for Africa, the one with the big wooden table with men seated all around it. I felt so strongly the emotions felt by all the headless men in the room, the desparation of delegates from different European countries (and America). I could almost empathize with their feelings of need for control of the colonies of Africa. I was reminded of how I felt as a child, dividing up toys between me and my friend, and so strongly wanting my fair share, wanting justice. Except of course that in this situation, justice is impossible, and this debate which feels so real to those men, and to viewers of the piece, fails to make real the millions of people it concerns. So many lives swung in the balance of this argument, and yet those men in power felt none of them, only their own needs. It would be easy to call them greedy, to call all powerful white men greedy, and perhaps many are. But Shonibare's piece gave an interesting perspective, one that in my anger over privilege and oppression it is easy for me to overlook. This doesn't mean that these men (and the countries/societies they represent) can be forgiven for claiming control of lands and people that they had absolutely no right to, but it is helpful for me in thinking about motivations behind oppression.

Although I didn't get the opportunity of going to the Barnes Foundation to experience Shonibare's exibit, watching just the video made me really interested in his work. His collections aren't just about self expressions, they're about melting both, having the priviledges of a white man as well as having the freedom of and right to critique them. As the video played, and I explored a few more images of his work and the more I saw the more I built on the idea of building on our connections. Shonibare, himself identifies as both European and African and freely uses both identities to create what his mind unravels. Like him, I believe that I shouldn't have to choose one identity to identify who I am. I am Mexican- American, which means I am not only moving forward and adapting to the "american life" but keeping the threads that keep me tied to my physical attributes. I can be a part of this modern society and enjoy it but at the same time I can have the freedom of enjoying not having my phone and listening to Have you ever seen the rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival on blast as I lay away in the backcountry. I can be both and enjoy both quite equally, I shouldn't have to feel forced to choose which defines me more. 

Shonibare's work is all about being among the abyss and not feeling stressed or chained to a perspective you must believe and stick to forever. It's about fighting among all the disadvantages and yet managing to stick your head above the current and enjoying the sun's rays as they glisten on your face. 

Shamial

2/15/14

one of my brother-in-law environmentalists, who monitors ClimateWireNet, forwarded me this news item. i share it with you as a contribution to our conversations about how to have these difficult conversations. how does the religious language of evil work in the context of discussion about climate change? (of course the Church of England is also thinking of using the language of economics, as it discusses pulling the church's investments out of fossil fuel companies...)

Church of England battles 'great demon of our day,' climate change  (Friday, February 14, 2014)

The Church of England has threatened to terminate its investments in companies that aren't making efforts to mitigate climate change and thus disregard the church's moral, social and theological ideals.

Steven Croft, the bishop of Sheffield, referred to climate change as "a giant evil, a great demon of our day," adding: "Its power is fed by greed, blindness and complacency in the present generation, and we know that this giant wreaks havoc though the immense power of the weather systems, which are themselves unpredictable."

While the church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group has refused to pull the church's money from fossil fuel companies, its deputy chairman told the General Synod that it was contemplating "all options" in developing a future investment policy.

I loved all of the works in Shonibare's exhibit, but I was especially captivated by his series of works, "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters".  Based on a 1797-98 print of the same title by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, which was part of a series critiquing the Spanish society in which Goya lived, Shonibare's series features 5 photographs, identical to Goya's print except for the sleeping figure and the phrase written on the desk.  Shonibare's photographs are each focused on a continent- one each for Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.  In each photograph, he features a person whose apparent race contradicts the expected race for someone from the continent being portrayed, and, while the words on the desk in Goya's print translate to "The sleep of reason produces monsters," the words in Shonibare's photos ask, for example, "Does the sleep of reason produce monsters in the Americas?"  The animals in Goya's print- owls, bats, and a large cat that I can't exactly identify- are reproduced exactly in each of Shonibare's photos, symbolizing the monsters that the human figure's sleep of reason is seen to produce.

Colors, Patterns, Stillness and Liveliness, Wheelchair and Stilts, Conflicts and Companionship. So much is happening simultaneously in the Shonibare’s Magic Ladders exhibit. It is difficult to narrow in on one element of such an intentional, “provocative examination of European colonialism and European and African identities” (Media Preview, scan 6), but I think what struck me most was the representation of children and adults, and the contrasts between the roles they embody. The adult figures are purely embodiments of their roles in society, pre-defined by their profession and achievements. Of the 24 adult figures (including the five men in the aluminum prints), 22 are seated. All of the adult statues are headless. Perhaps this is representative of their fixed roles in life. They have reached their destinations and rather than strive for progress and knowledge, they have relaxed into their roles, unporous to discovery.