draining's Diaryland
Diary
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Multiculuralism, 2006
MULTICULTURALISM I�d like to start my journal on this segment of readings by recounting my first experience with the work of African-American artist Adrian Piper, one of the conceptual artists discussed in the readings. I believe my experience with her reflects a lot of the themes covered, particularly how I, as a white person, in some ways exoticized and in other ways identified with her video about identifying as black when she �looks� white. I, as a woman, identified most with her message about being female.
As we know, the video consists of Piper sitting in a chair, looking directly at the camera and explaining why she chooses to identify as black when she could pass for white. I remember thinking the whole thing perfectly plausible; unlike my white friends who were shocked that this woman was black. I said, �Hey, I can see it.� I didn�t think she was white when I first sat down in front of the TV screen. I thought maybe she was Latina, but now that I know her story, I think she totally looks like a very fair-skinned black person. After viewing this video multiple times over the years, I have actually found the piece to come off as more hostile than I did upon my first viewing, challenging the expectations of both blacks and whites and challenging the idea of race as something merely skin deep.
Adrian Piper�s cards are another aspect of her work that intrigues me, works that are confrontational in terms of defining art and challenging social encounters. She has one card, in particular, that she gives out wherever she goes says: �I have not come to this establishment to be hit on/picked up/for your amusement. I have come here to be alone. Please respect my wishes.� My girlfriends and I all agreed we should start making and handing out cards like this.
Neo-hoodism in Judith Wilson�s essay in The Decade Show was really interesting for me to read about because, for a long time, I�ve been interested in shamanistic arts such as Vo Dou (classical spelling), Santeria, and art therapy. The latter reclaims the ancient idea of the artist as shaman and art as inseparable from religion and beliefs in magical healing. A lot of people don�t know what Santeria is, so I�ll briefly explain it�it gestated in Cuba and combines Catholic imagery with ancient tribal African shamanic practices transplanted to the New World by slaves. I loved the idea that the Neo-Hoodoo artists never buy materials. They always recycle materials because they have the imprint of someone else on them. Many folk artists and outsider artists who recycle everything from wristwatches to bottle caps into their work might be surprised to learn they are �Neo-hoodists.� I�d kind of hate to be the one to try this term on them.
As much as I love Lorna Simpson, reading about her in Huey Copland�s account made her seem boring and academic compared to the Neo-hoodists. But everyone seems somewhat conservative compared to this group that I so enjoyed reading about. (One of the Neo-Hoodoo artists is quoted as saying that audiences with MFAs are the worst audiences for his work. I�ll be sure to remember that when I get my MFA.) I�m not really that superstitious or religious, but what I like about Neo-Hoodism that I don�t see in the work of someone like Lorna Simpson is a sense of sympathetic magic, which is what started all the arts back in prehistoric times. A sense of artist as priest, or, as I prefer, artist as witch or shaman can still apply if we consider the artist as someone who helps us understand the mysteries of our universe.
10:48 p.m. - 2006-01-31
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