It's seems as though it's time to come out of hibernation that the Corona virus had forced many of us in. That is how I felt after spending some productive time with my friend Manda Maples at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Amanda and I have a knack for doing out-of-the-box projects. Our collaboration has left a few imprints on the museum that are still visible to visitors today. For example, there is a video of a dinner I hosted for the Museum a few years ago where I discussed about the connection between food and art. The video clip plays continuously on the exhibition floor.
Amanda has invited me to make a commentary on a piece of art for an upcoming exhibition. That piece depict people of African descent. That commentary will accompany the art piece once it's on display. The particular piece of art is quite old and it was a great feeling to read through the file that tracks all the places it has been on display.
Of interest to me is the whole movement of repatriation of African pieces and giving credit for those that were legally acquired. I called the former pieces of art the first "illegal immigrants ". So when I hear people talking about illegal immigration in this country, that is the images that first come to mind. As I left the museum, I felt like I was leaving a detention center. Then I remembered that the word Photography comes from the greek words that literally means drawing with light. The space in Western museums is a dark one and the only way out of that darkness is through light and justice. In order words, the picture that many of the African visitors to those spaces should no longer leave there feeling like the original illegal immigrants of the modern day.
It's a big help to have an alley in that painful journey..